1. True cost of Rwanda's coltan, higher than expected.

2. After all, we need oil, wood, gold, diamonds, coltan, copper.

3. Columbite-tantalite ore, better known as coltan, is found mainly in the rainforests of Africa and is used in the production of modern electronic devices.

4. Among them are diamonds and gold but also coltan, a rare but crucial element in mobile phones.

5. We have interest to buy tantalite, Ta2O5, coltan, columbite in Uganda and East African region.

6. In eastern Congo the vacuum created by Mobutu's exit led to fierce competition among proxy armies and various militias for its gold, charcoal, tin, and coltan.

7. Let me elaborate: it is demand for the latest mobile phones that has made the metal coltan so valuable, leading to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

8. But, ultimately, each of these devices relies on substances such as coltan from warlord-ravaged Congo or illegally mined rare earths from China.