This photo was taken in a dark room, illuminated only by
the power stored withinin the Tantalum-metal inside the
Tantalum-capasitor.
Eastern Congo holds huge deposits of Tantalum in the form
of the ore Coltan. In the late 1990’s, a bloody war
escalated in Congo. At the hands of the Rwandan, Ugandan
and Congolese military - as well as local militia - the
conflict ravaged Eastern Congo and its people. As the
millennium rolled in, the warlords had both war diamonds
and the valuable Coltan to finance their killings.
A Tantalum-capacitor differs from an ordinary capacitor in
that it has a greater capacity and takes up less space.
This makes Tantalum-capacitors particularly suitable for
cellphones, computers, game-consoles and digital cameras.
Speculation in the global Tantalum consumption during the
dot-com boom made the price of Tantalum go up several
hundred percent, costing more than the price of silver.
Many industry organizations, leading producers and
governmental organizations publicly distance themselves
from Tantalum produced from Congolese ore. Unfortunately it
is nearly impossible to determine the origin of Tantalum.
In spite of official statements, a demand for the
production of bloody Tantalum for its use in data and
communication technology remains.
