Dirty secrets in Tesla, Apple & other devices: Bloody Coltan and Conflict Minerals

“Of Mud and Blood” directed by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud

Numbi, Democratic Republic of Congo –  The film "Of Mud and Blood“ presents shocking truths about our favorite electronic devices: Tesla cars, Apple and many more devices come with blood and abuse. 

In rural areas like Numbi, characterised by dirt roads and homes with thatched roofs, the soil contains coltan (columbite-tantalite), an ore processed into tantalum. Tantalum is used in capacitors for smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, and satellites. Coltan mining in the DRC links local extraction to global electronics supply chains and is associated with human rights abuses, armed conflict, and environmental degradation. Coltan mining in Numbi involves artisanal and small-scale operations amid ongoing instability and poverty. Thousands of miners, including men, women, and children, work in hand-dug pits using basic tools such as picks and buckets, without safety equipment like helmets or ropes. Mine collapses occur weekly, resulting in fatalities described as routine hazards in dust-filled environments. Miners spend hours excavating mud and rock, sifting for coltan grains under the supervision of armed guards from police or militias, who extract portions of the output.

These conditions stem from a dysfunctional system. The DRC possesses over 70% of global coltan reserves, supporting a $1 billion annual trade in 3T minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten). However, much of the mining is informal. Children often forgo school to scavenge in waste dumps, while families are displaced by conflict. Women, typically excluded from pit work due to cultural norms, engage in sex work or informal trading to address food insecurity. Ethnic-based armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, captured key coltan sites like Rubaya in April 2024 and expanded control to Goma and Bukavu in early 2025. These groups use mining revenues to finance attacks, contributing to civilian deaths and displacement.

The coltan supply chain involves corruption and regulatory evasion. Local traders purchase and sort ore using magnets, often mixing it with cassiterite (a tin ore). Prices are determined by international markets in London and New York, providing minimal returns to miners. Government validation offices, intended to certify exports and curb smuggling, impose fees that encourage evasion. Bribes are common at checkpoints along transport routes, including overloaded bicycles over unstable bridges and landslide-prone paths. In trading hubs like Goma, ore is tested, smelted into ingots, and exported. Miners' earnings rarely cover basic needs like daily rice rations.

The DRC government, hampered by corruption and conflict, has limited oversight of this shadow economy. Certifications like "conflict-free" labels on electronics often fail to address issues, as noted in the 2023 UN Group of Experts report on DRC supply chain vulnerabilities. The ITSCI (International Tin Supply Chain Initiative) traceability system, which verifies mineral origins for 3T products, covers only 20–30% of artisanal production, leaving most operations unmonitored and prone to abuses. ITSCI resumed operations in parts of North Kivu in June 2025 amid fragile ceasefires. A government coltan export ban implemented earlier in 2025 to stabilise prices was lifted in September, replaced by annual quotas. Smuggling persists in rebel-controlled areas.

Mining causes significant environmental damage. In Numbi, hills are stripped into craters of exposed soil and tailings. Rivers are contaminated with heavy metals from runoff, harming fish populations and agriculture. Airborne dust affects households, respiratory health, and water sources. This "resource curse" extends beyond coltan; the DRC's deposits of cobalt, copper, and uranium have led to economic underdevelopment, village displacements, and forest loss exceeding 1 million hectares annually. While national curricula describe these resources as "national treasures," many children view mining as their likely occupation. Moreover, the escalating M23 conflict has exacerbated environmental degradation, including increased deforestation for mining expansion and water pollution affecting biodiversity hotspots like Virunga National Park, where over 200 species are threatened. Mining activities have also been linked to health crises, such as higher rates of miscarriages and birth defects among women near cobalt and coltan sites due to toxic exposure.

Parallels in Sudan: Gold Mining and Conflict

Similar dynamics affect gold mining in Sudan. Since April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has caused over 150,000 deaths and displaced more than 12 million people, with gold revenues central to the violence. In Darfur's unregulated sites, RSF forces, supplied with arms from the UAE, oversee operations where children as young as eight handle mercury-contaminated material. Proceeds fund atrocities, including the RSF's October 2025 capture of El Fasher. The SAF, supported by Egypt and Russia, controls northern mines, routing gold through illicit channels to Dubai refineries. Refined Sudanese gold, imported via Chad and Libya, evades sanctions and generates $1.6 billion annually for war efforts. External actors, including Gulf states and private military companies, prolong the conflict. International jewellers and financial institutions often process these minerals without awareness of their origins. Sudan's experience parallels the DRC, demonstrating how mineral extraction sustains violence in multiple regions.

Parallels in the Sahel Region: Gold Mining in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger

Gold mining in the Sahel has become deeply entangled with extremism, illicit trade, and human rights abuses, mirroring the resource-fueled conflicts in the DRC and Sudan. Since the early 2010s, jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS have infiltrated artisanal mining sites across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to finance terrorism and insurgency. In Mali, northern gold fields like those in Kidal are controlled by armed militias, generating revenues estimated at hundreds of millions annually through smuggling routes to the UAE and Switzerland. Child labor is widespread, with miners as young as 10 exposed to mercury poisoning and cave-ins in unregulated pits. Burkina Faso, now one of Africa's top gold producers, saw over 2,000 mining-related deaths in 2024 due to clashes between extremists and security forces, exacerbating the displacement of more than 2 million people. In Niger, gold from border regions funds cross-Saharan trafficking networks, evading sanctions and perpetuating instability after the 2023 coup. Military governments in these countries have pushed for nationalisation of mines in 2025, but corruption, weak borders, and collaboration between miners and armed groups hinder progress. Environmental degradation, including water contamination and desertification, compounds poverty, while international efforts like UN monitoring struggle to trace the "blood gold" entering global jewelry and electronics supply chains.

Parallels in the Central African Republic: Diamonds and Gold Mining Amid Civil War

In the Central African Republic (CAR), diamonds and gold have sustained a brutal civil war since 2013, funding rebel factions in a cycle of violence akin to the DRC's coltan trade. Armed groups such as the ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka coalitions control vast mining territories, using proceeds to arm themselves and commit atrocities that have killed thousands and displaced over 1 million. Artisanal diamond mines in western CAR involve forced labor, including children sifting through riverbeds without safety gear, while gold production has boomed as an alternative, with sites in the east yielding illicit exports worth $200 million yearly. Smuggling to neighboring Cameroon, Sudan, and the DRC bypasses the Kimberley Process, despite partial lifting of export bans in 2025 following fragile peace talks. The conflict has led to widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence and ethnic cleansing, with minerals laundered through Dubai hubs. Environmental impacts include deforestation and river pollution from mercury use, worsening food insecurity. International jewelers often source unknowingly from these zones, highlighting gaps in global certification systems.

Despite challenges, reform initiatives in conflict mineral zones offer hope. In the DRC, miners' cooperatives push for legal recognition, better wages, and family protections. ITSCI's enhanced monitoring in parts of North Kivu, backed by European partnerships in 2025, has estimated support for over 5,000 small-scale operators with safer sites, fairer pay, and reduced armed interference. However, operations remain suspended in large swaths of North and South Kivu due to security threats, with RMI recognition delayed until at least 2026.
Companies like Fairphone have sourced conflict-free tantalum from DRC since 2013, proving ethical procurement is scalable. The US-brokered DRC–Rwanda peace agreement in June 2025 includes mineral governance linking economic incentives to human rights. Follow-up commitments, such as the September 2025 joint statement, aim to foster verifiable supply chains amid temporary ceasefires. Yet, as of November 2025, setbacks persist with ongoing clashes and limited progress from the recent DRC-M23 framework agreement.

Accountability in Big Tech

Tantalum's surge, U.S. consumption leaping 75% to 770 tons in 2024, powers Big Tech's boom, but accountability crumbles under profit's weight. Global Witness, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch decry this as a farce: International Tin Supply Chain Initiative, relied on by all majors, launders "blood minerals" from militia mines, with up to 90% contamination in some areas. Human Rights Watch's 2025 World Report spotlights the DRC as a persistent hotspot for mining abuses, documenting how armed groups like the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized coltan-rich sites such as Rubaya in April 2024, producing over 15% of global tantalum, and imposed taxes on 120 tons of monthly exports, generating at least $800,000 to fuel attacks that displaced millions and killed thousands. The group details rampant child labor, with over 40,000 children as young as six scavenging in toxic pits for $2 a day amid cave-ins, sexual violence, and forced recruitment, while environmental devastation, deforestation of 1 million hectares annually and river poisoning—exacerbates health crises like miscarriages and respiratory diseases. HRW accuses tech firms of complicity through flawed schemes like ITSCI, which cover just 20-30% of artisanal output and ignore militia control, urging mandatory independent audits and premiums that reach miners to break the cycle of poverty and violence.

Tech giants claim compliance: Apple audited all 234 smelters (100% "clean") before suspending DRC/Rwanda sourcing in June 2024. But the DRC's December 2024 criminal complaints against Apple's French and Belgian subsidiaries, filed in Paris and Brussels shatter that facade. The suits accuse Apple of war crimes, forgery, and deceptive practices by knowingly incorporating smuggled 3TG minerals - tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold—from M23-controlled mines into iPhones and Macs, laundered through Rwanda despite its near-zero domestic production. Backed by whistleblowers and a U.S. State Department statement on illicit trade, the complaints highlight how nine of Apple's 32 listed tantalum suppliers source from Rwanda, where M23 exported at least 150 tons of fraudulent coltan in 2024 alone, the "largest contamination" of global chains per UN experts, financing atrocities that displaced 7 million. Apple strongly disputes the claims, insisting on OECD-aligned audits and increased NGO support, but critics like HRW argue such self-policing ignores whistleblower warnings about firms like Minerals Supply Africa. 

Tesla lags worst: its 2024 report (filed May 2025) admits only 63% RMAP compliance across 341 smelters, far below peers, after surveying 570+ suppliers, many handling DRC-origin ore for EV batteries and inverters. Despite M23's mine grabs, Tesla rejects regional boycotts to "protect jobs," a stance HRW and Global Witness label as willful blindness: it outsources risks to untraceable tiers, relying on ITSCI despite evidence of its failures in certifying warlord-run sites, while Tesla's cobalt reduction efforts (down 50% since 2018) haven't extended to robust tantalum tracing. Critics say this "job protection" code dodges costs amid Tesla's EV surge, amplifying demand without funding remediation, unlike Apple's pause, while HRW notes Tesla's policy updates (last in 2015) fall short of OECD demands for grievance mechanisms, leaving miners vulnerable as conflicts rage. 

This apathy stems from structure: downstream firms like these buy processed metals layers removed from pits, outsourcing risks to untraceable suppliers. Dodd-Frank's 2010 rules focus on disclosure, not bans, letting 80% of reports skirt depth; EU's 2021 regs ignore cobalt, lithium, EV essentials, and lack teeth. Profits soar - tantalum's $230 million U.S. value in 2024, while miners starve, conflicts rage (7 million displaced), and firms tout "responsible sourcing" as cover. Appeals courts shield them, dismissing child cobalt suits against Apple, Tesla, et al., as "indirect" harm. They "don't care," per watchdogs like HRW, because the system rewards ignorance: no lawsuits stick, consumers stay blind, and alternatives like recycling (Apple's 2025 cobalt goal) scale too slow against demand.

What Needs to be Changed?

In the DRC, expand tracking to cover beyond 20–30% of artisanal production with independent audits and penalties for smuggling. Enforce emerging quota systems nationwide, paired with measures to cut rebel revenues. International sanctions, like the U.S. August 2025 actions targeting armed groups and illicit buyers, must extend to foreign middlemen. Peace deals require third-party oversight tying aid to human rights gains. In Sudan, dismantle the "blood gold" economy through pressure on RSF arms suppliers, Dubai refineries laundering gold, and sanctions enforcement. Redirect revenues via transparent funds and demilitarize sites under UN/AU oversight.  Across the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger), nationalization and higher royalties are steps forward but need anti-corruption safeguards and protection from jihadist threats. Renegotiate unfair foreign contracts and enforce environmental rules against mercury poisoning. In the Central African Republic, strengthen the Kimberley Process for diamonds and develop a similar framework for gold, with NGO access to end forced labor. Lift export bans only with verifiable anti-smuggling systems. 

At the corporate level, tech giants and jewelers must adopt 100% traceable, audited chains—making standards like RMI mandatory. Pay premiums that reach miners and fund restoration. Our devices and jewelry shouldn't cost lives. With consumer, investor, and government pressure, these resource curses can become equitable opportunities. Change demands that we stop looking away.

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