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The Mining Of Conflict Minerals

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Conflict minerals are used in many commercially available items, such as many electronic devices and much jewelry. These minerals are Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold. Mines, in which these minerals are collected, are often sites for violent armed groups, hence the name conflict minerals. This problem is especially prominent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also takes place in many other nations such as the Central African Republic, Tanzania and Angola as well. These nations often do not have the control over their natural resources that is necessary the to prevent the monopolization of vital minerals by violent militant groups. Additionally, the mining of conflict minerals leads to many human rights violations as well as environmental damage. People are often forced into working with death threats or to protect their family. The public is also frequently subjected to attacks from armed groups that control mines. Working conditions are terrible and involve much heavy lifting, which can result in injuries as well as bad quality tools. As for environmental effects, mining causes sinkholes, contamination and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, profit from the mining of conflict minerals often goes towards personal profit or to armed groups that use the money to advance their violent causes. The minerals are frequently smuggled into neighboring countries, smelted and then distributed worldwide. The process of smelting the minerals makes it hard to determine the

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