The mobile telecommunications industry shares the Melbourne Zoo’s concerns about the loss of habitat of gorillas in the Congo as a result of illegal mining of coltan – an ore extracted and refined to tantalum metal and used in a range of electronics equipment.

The mobile telecommunications industry condemns the activities of illegal miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the devastation it causes the gorilla population, an AMTA spokesman said.

The Melbourne Zoo is spearheading a national campaign, “They’re calling on you”, to help save gorillas in Africa. The campaign aims to raise money for the cause by encouraging people to donate their old mobile phones, which are refurbished and shipped to developing countries.

The campaign says: “You can now help save the gorillas in Africa simply by donating your mobile phone! Each time your mobile phone rings, a tiny piece of metallic ore from Africa is making this call possible: coltan.”

Coltan ore is extracted and refined to tantalum metal and used in a range of electronics equipment. Tantalum is a rare, valuable, metallic element that is twice as dense as steel and highly resistant to heat and corrosion.

It can store and release an electrical charge, a property that has made it a vital material for capacitors in minaturised and portable electronic equipment, including mobile phones. Other applications include surgical equipment, turbine blades in jet engines and lining chemical reactors.

AMTA, although supportive of the Melbourne Zoo’s concerns for gorillas, has informed it that AMTA handset manufacturers have systems and procedures to help ensure that illegally-mined African coltan is not used in handsets.

The facts are:

• AMTA Members require suppliers of tantalum to verify in writing that illegally-mined African tantalum has not been used. The mobile phone industry does not buy tantalum directly; it is purchased when capacitors – used to make mobile phone handsets and other electronic equipment – are bought. AMTA Members also have Supplier Codes of Conduct and Environmental policies, which set out requirements for suppliers to meet human rights, labour and environmental standards that require higher standards than national laws and regulations.

• Our members regularly contact all of their capacitor suppliers (where tantalum is used) and require them to check and report on where their tantalum is sourced.

• Some member companies do not use capacitors which contain tantalum.

• Tantalum is used right across the electronics, chemical and defence industries. Tantalum capacitors are critical components used for high capacitance applications in cellular telephones, computer motherboards, computer disc drives, video camcorders, engine control units and a variety of other small devices.

• In a mobile phone that uses tantalum there is usually one tantalum capacitor. This equates to less than 0.04g of tantalum, which is about 0.04% of the phone’s weight. Tantalum consumption in the mobile phone industry was less than 2% of the yearly world production.

• Mobile handset manufacturers have significantly decreased the use of capacitors that contain tantalum, which is derived from coltan. The use of tantalum has been minimised and many new handsets do not use it. In fact, some manufacturers do not use tantalum in their handsets at all. However, tantalum use has not been completely eliminated because some handsets require enhanced voice quality, which can only be delivered with capacitors using tantalum. This applies to handsets, for example, manufactured for those with a hearing impairment. These handsets use only the bare minimum amount that is required to deliver the enhanced voice quality.

• AMTA understands that although the majority of the world’s known reserves of coltan are found in the Congo, less than half a tonne of coltan[i] (compared to 435 tonnes mined in Australia) comes from the area in and around the Congo. The vast majority of the material used in electronic and other equipment is mined in Australia, which supplies more than 60% of world production.

AMTA’s spokesman said the mobile telecommunications industry is happy to support any factually-based campaign that would assist the plight of the gorillas in the Congo.

“Afterall, our own industry mobile phone recycling scheme, MobileMuster, is the only industry-wide program for electronic waste offering

free recycling for all mobile phone brands in Australia. It is believed to be the only such scheme in the world,” he said.

“By the end of the year, the industry’s Old Phones, More Trees campaign will have planted 175,000 trees around Australia in partnership with Landcare to help restore biodiversity, protect the habitat of endangered wildlife, such as cassowaries and koalas, reduce soil salinity and erosion and improve water quality.”