Congo mine deploys digital weapons in fight against conflict minerals via aaronross6 reutersBarbaraL
RUBAYA, Democratic Republic of Congo - In a small shack overlooking muddy pits hewn out of eastern Congo’s rolling green hills, a government official puts a barcoded tag on a sack of ore rich in tantalum, a rare metal widely used in smartphones.
The new system developed by RCS Global, a company in Berlin that audits supply chains, started in January at Societe Miniere de Bisunzu’s mine near Rubaya, which has some of Africa’s largest deposits of coltan, a tantalum-rich ore. Maubrey said the new system had helped prevent tainted ore being mixed in with SMB’s products by creating new obstacles. To use stolen tags, for example, a smuggler would also need to steal both the scanner and the laptop linked to it - which Maubrey said would be easily detected.
In response to the role minerals from Congo and east African neighbors played in funding conflicts, the United States passed legislation in 2010 requiring U.S.-listed companies to disclose whether their products contained any tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold from the region - and perform due diligence.
Rene Masumbuko, the mine ministry’s representative for the eastern Congo province of North Kivu, said armed interference at mines was rare, although he conceded government agents were not able to access some rebel-held areas. Maubrey said RCS teams in Germany can review all the data in real time, which allows them to identify any anomalies, such as spikes in production, and report risks to buyers.
Circulor has also monitored mines in Rwanda using smartphones armed with GPS to pinpoint exactly where the ore was tagged and facial recognition software to confirm the identities of miners.
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