Africa\u27s Conflict Minerals

Conflict minerals are becoming a significant concern in the international community (as seen in the passage of legislature regulating and addressing them such as America’s Dodd Frank Act). Through the efforts of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and grassroots organizations (among others), Africa’s conflict minerals are receiving an ever increasing amount of attention. Though conflict minerals are mined in a variety of nations around the world, one nation that is endowed with all four minerals (tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold) discussed in this paper is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Along with being a nation highly endowed with these minerals, the DRC has also inherited the environmental degradation, human rights abuses, and the wars that accompany and are characteristic of conflict minerals