METALS
The business: Coltan -- short for columbite-tantalite -- is an ore that takes on heat-resistant properties when it gets refined. It's also capable of holding a high electrical charge for a long time. Both characteristics make coltan an ideal component in circuitry design, and it's these that make the mineral so valuable. In the iPhone and other electronic devices, coltan is used in the production of tantalum capacitors, which store charge better than normal capacitors, improving battery life.
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The politics: After oil and water, coltan might soon be among the world's most contested resources. Obscure but found in virtually every mobile phone on the planet -- not to mention pretty much any other electronic device you can name -- the mineral is mined largely by hand in the far eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in Australia, Brazil, and Canada, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (pdf).
Although Australia mines the most coltan by far, it's the Congo that has borne the brunt of the electronics industry's hunger for the material. The Congolese see almost none of the profits from the coltan trade because rebel groups backed by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda routinely loot the mineral to finance their own operations. High-ranking government officials from both countries were implicated in a 2001 U.N. report (pdf) on the ongoing regional turmoil that, by some estimates, has killed nearly 7 million over the last 12 years. As attention to conflict minerals expands beyond gold and diamonds, expect "blood coltan" to become a much bigger topic of discussion. For its part, Apple issues a non-denial denial when it comes to addressing coltan (pdf), saying that the company requires its suppliers to certify that the materials they use have been produced in a "socially and environmentally responsible process." Apple adds that the supply chain is long and complicated, and that it supports efforts to map and regulate that chain.
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