Columbite

There's a crucial element in the manufacture of cell phones, laptops and the like called columbite-tantalite (or coltan). ❋ Unknown (2009)

Tantalum is recovered from ore minerals such as columbite and tantalite. ❋ Unknown (2008)

On Boing Boing Gadgets, this wrenching video in which Eve Ensler explains that Congolese militias use rape to enforce discipline among a slave workforce that mines columbite-tantalite ore, a common raw material for many devices. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Dogo Nahawa sits amid rolling hills, surrounded by former tin and columbite mines. ❋ Will Connors (2010)

Among these riches is coltan - columbite tantalite - a mineral highly prized for its use in a number of consumer electronic products, among other things. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Overall, Congo has over half the world's cobalt, one-third of its diamonds, and three-fourths of its vital columbite-tantalite or "coltan," essential for computer chips, circuit boards, mobile phones, laptops, and other electronic devices. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Africa provides columbite-tantalite, the mineral from which most computer chips are made. ❋ Ajong77 (2009)

Solid minerals like coal, tin and columbite were mined in economic quantities and Nigeria was known to be a major world player in the production of these minerals. ❋ Unknown (2009)

They discovered rhenium as a trace element in platinum ores and the mineral columbite. ❋ Unknown (2008)

There are deposits of gold, cassiterite (a tin ore) and coltan (columbite-tantalite) ore of a high grade which in 2000 fetched very high prices as a metal used in computer and mobile phone microchips. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Rhenium does not form minerals of its own, but it does occur as a trace element in columbite, tantalite and molybdenite. ❋ Unknown (2008)

His conversation contained no mention of columbite-tantalite (a.k.a. "coltan"). ❋ Unknown (2006)

Global demand for columbite-tantalite (a.k.a. "coltan"), a common cell phone component, is fueling war and environmental destruction in the Democratic Republic of Congo ... but leftists aren't supposed to acknowledge their complicity. ❋ Unknown (2006)

One of the most profitable minerals in Congo is coltan, a natural alloy of columbite and tantalum, used to manufacture mobile phones, avionics and computer games. ❋ Unknown (2001)

Coltan - short for columbite-tantalite - sells at dlrs 50 per kilogram on the international market and is used in the manufacture of computer chips and other high-tech gadgets. ❋ Unknown (2001)