Tantalum Capacitors

Tantalum capacitors are polarised and have low voltage ratings like electrolytic capacitors. They are expensive but very small so they are used where a large capacitance is needed in a small size such as mobile phones or laptop computers. These capacitors have increasingly become an important as the demand for ever smaller electronic gadgets has grown. Columbite-tantalite - coltan, for short, the ore from which tantalum is refined is mined in Australia, Egpyt. The high demand for the ore has also financed civil wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A UN security council report charged that a great deal of the ore is mined illegally and smuggled over the country's eastern borders by militas from neighbouring Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda providing the revenue to finance the military occupation of the Congo.