When "conflict free" minerals go to war

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5720191
AutoresK Rubaii (0000-0003-3016-8544), Mohamed El-Shewy (0009-0008-0353-6528, Newcastle University), Mark Griffiths (0000-0002-2284-4533, Newcastle University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen123
Páginas103425
Fecha de publicación2025-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0962-6298 • E-ISSN: 1873-5096
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.polgeo.2025.103425
OpenAlexW4414446204
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas27

The article develops a simple but important argument: “conflict free” minerals are essential to the waging of contemporary war. This argument is substantiated over three main sections. First, we provide historical background to the idea of “conflict minerals” to show how they are narrowly associated with the violence of extraction and with consumer products (phones, electric vehicles, etc) in way that forecloses their use in weapons manufacturing and war further along the supply chain. Second, we draw from fieldwork in Rwanda and secondary sources to explicate the ways that minerals attain “conflict free” certification despite documented links with conflict in central Africa. Transparency in supply chains, we show, is carefully angled: issues of provenance (i.e., the movement of minerals to and in Rwanda) are obscured yet meticulous systems are in place to enable and trace the movement of minerals from Rwanda. In the third section, we focus on the supply of tin and tantalum from Rwanda to weapons suppliers and outline the use of those minerals in contemporary military hardware. In conclusion we sketch an agenda for future research on “conflict free” minerals that go to war

Certification · Communism · Sketch · Mining and Resource Management