Congo rebel group gets $3,00,000 monthly from seized mine

Sub : IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

An armed rebel group, M23, generates approximately $300,000 monthly from mining control in eastern Congo, according to UN mission in Congo.
M23 seized the Rubaya mining area in April, which has significant deposits of tantalum, a key mineral for electronics.

Tantalum:

Tantalum is a rare metal extracted from coltan.
Tantalum is used to manufacture tantalum capacitors which are used for mobile phones, personal computers, automotive electronics, and cameras.
Rubaya in Eastern Congo contributes over 15% of the world’s tantalum supply.

About Coltan:

Coltan is short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite.
It is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted.
The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite, and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite.
Predominantly found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Colombia, Rwanda, Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Kenya.
Tantalum is also produced in Thailand and Malaysia as a by-product of tin mining and smelting.

Blood Minerals:

Blood minerals refer to natural resources, particularly certain minerals and metals, that are mined in conflict zones and are often associated with human rights abuses, exploitation, and violence.
The term is similar to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance armed conflict.
Tantalum has been identified as a “blood mineral” by the Congolese government, which questioned companies like Apple about their supply chain practices.
The conflict in eastern Congo is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 120 armed groups vying for power. Violence has displaced approximately 6 million people in the region.

About M23:

M23, or the March 23 Movement, is a rebel military group mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago.