Rare metals

The scarcity of many raw materials holds significant conflict potentials as global demand increases rapidly. This does not only apply to fossil resources, focussed in the public debate, but also to many rare mineral resources. An important example is the ore coltan, from which tantalum is separated for the use as material or in the electronics industry. More specifically, tantalum is used in high performance capacitors, that are found for example in a broad range of information and communication technology appliances such as mobile phones and notebooks. Different interests in the exploitation and use of coltan aggravate violent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.