Pulling Congo's Strings AGAIN

The humanitarian crisis is about to get "ugly".  Why? 

The price of coltan is about to go into low orbit.  Why? 

The Australian coltan mines will close in January 2009.  Afterward, Congo will be the only source for coltan.  Therefore, rebels will stand to triple their illegal profit.

The peace will not come to eastern Congo.

Resource Investor - “Blood Tantalum” Profiteers in Congo Set to Capitalize on Dramatic 2009 Price Spike for Australian Tantalum.

The bloody civil war that is creating another humanitarian crisis in the central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is set to get far worse because of events a world away in Australia.

VANCOUVER (ResourceInvestor.com) -- That promises to be the case if the world’s leading tantalum supplier in Australia acts on a threat to almost double the metal’s price, beginning in January, 2009. Apparently, Perth-based Talison Minerals means business.

To underscore its resolve, Talison will cease mining tantalum altogether in early December – at least for the foreseeable future. This leaves only its existing stockpiles, which surely won’t compensate for the fact that the company’s two major mines accounted for no less than 50% of the world’s annual supply.

What’s the connection between the endless bloodshed in the DRC and the closing of a mine thousands of miles away due to the global recession? The tantalum in the DRC is far more inexpensively produced compared to mining operations in the Western world. And some of it can be extracted dirt cheap because of the brutal enslavement of civilian workforces -- including young children -- by armed factions.