We’ve all heard of conflict or blood diamonds–the precious gems mined in a war zone, and often used to finance the activities of unsavory characters.
But diamonds are not the only conflict mineral–there’s also gold, tantalum, and tin, just to name a few.
We generally associate these minerals with the Congo in Africa. But a new report for Bloomberg Markets Magazine exposes what it calls “blood tungsten”–this time from Colombia.
A major tungsten mine in a remote part of Colombia is controlled by the guerrilla group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. It uses the profits from the sale of the precious metal to fund its activities.
As one of the world’s longest-surviving guerrilla forces, FARC controls huge swaths of Colombia’s lower Andes Mountains and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Colombia.
FARC has waged a 50-year war against the elected Colombian government, funding itself with cocaine trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and mining. The war has killed 257,000 people and has displaced 3.7 million, according to figures from the United Nations.
Michael Smith is a Bloomberg Markets Latin America Reporter. He joins The Takeaway to discuss the use of tungsten in electronic devices.