Coltan Exploration in Eastern Demomatic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 175
Table: Key foctors in coltan exploitationRwanda and Uganda
and Congolese rebel:Interests- Expoiro~ion of internal crisis
- Mcnngemen! of the pos+xcide era
- State entrepreneurship is:a!e is like or;,. ate:
mineral dealer1 - Finance military compoigns ocd p?rsor.ci
gain for higincnking office:r. and pdc!;;cic~. - Serve the interest of multinotior,ol coqpries
- Cwrcive and dissuorive force lor easy
exploitation of coltoo ar,d o:k: mixsob - Protec:ion of the mine zones ogciod ohe:
interested groups (e.9. NoiWai] - Political and economic svrvivcl [epecioli,r
Congolese reblsl
.ocol/regionol Burund~on, Rwandan. - Moklng 'good money'
waness commumty Ugandon ond - Sel!snr~chment
Conglolese - Evodlng taxes [espeaally lo: Rvicrdzn crd
Ugandan buanessmen/v:ornen]
.ocol communities in Coltan diggers and - Making money
nine zones other local people - Gning Sock their lost 1ar.d - Ofier support to Moikki
Other. including
business, airlines.
arms merchants
American, Conadion, - Lucrative deols in the oterc~ 0: S3rp:rrer:
Belgian. Germon. oppoiotus
Kozokhstan - Access to snategic micerols !o renoin
comp:i:ive- Mointoining o peseace in bo'h rehl crd
wvernment sids fw lu:i?ie deck
At Stage 1, the Congolese administration, known as the Centre National de
Recherche Geologique et Miniere (Mines and Geological Research National
Centre - or CRGM), also provided some data, especially on the location and
availability of coltan." Sophisticated instruments are used to estimate the
concentration and the quality of the minerals for industrial exploitation. At
Stage 3, coltan is basically exploited in a 'craft' manner, based on the use of
small locally available materials, such as hoes, spades, tridents, or iron ban.
In some circumstances, the use of explosives is common, resulting often in a
high death toll among the diggers, soldiers and local communities from res-
piratory problems.
Owing to deteriorated road networks, military vehicles often come to assist in
the transportation of coltan to Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda at Stage 4 of the
exploitation cycle. More often, transportation is by air, using Russian Antonovs
that can ferry up to 20 tons. Several rotations are done every day to get these