Titre
13170 mots
53 pages
COLTAN : POUR COMPRENDRE… par Didier de Failly s.j. Abstract Almost unknown until the very last years, colombo-tantalite ("coltan") ore got as popular among river diggers in eastern D.R.Congo as did mobile phones -which include "high tech" capacitors made from this rare metal: tantalum-, throughout the world. Mining industry in Kivu, which was great for several decades, declined steadily after independence year (1960) and could not cope lately with this new activity: it disappeared eventually with the war in late 1996, widening the way to an overspread handicraft digging activity joined by several dozens of thousands of people, men, women and children. Coltan demand on the world market was boosted for the last twenty years or so since its main source, the by-production of tin smelting low-grade slags, decreased heavily after aluminum replaced tin boxes. Tantalum is an exceptionally refractory and anti-corrosive metal, with more and more applications in chemical industry, aerospace, and electronic appliances. In the year 2000, tantalum world price rocketed and heated the search for coltan along the whole path -from the local digger to the international trader-, which is described in full details. This happens in a context where the concerned part of the country is under the rule of occupying armies from neighbouring countries, what provided some actors with a overwhelming position, mixing trade with politics and military power. Although coltan yields substantial incomes to Kivu, human and ecological costs are over any figures. 1. INTRODUCTIONDans d'innombrables sites de la partie orientale de la République Démocratique du Congo, la fièvre de la recherche tous azimuts du coltan (colombo-tantalite) s'est emparée de la population à la recherche de ressources pour survivre dans une situation de guerre qui prolonge et accentue la misère d'une longue dictature prédatrice. Bien que connu de longue date, ce n'est que ces toutes dernières années que le coltan a suscité