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| JULY 25, 2008 |
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"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and
America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British
Parliament Member Oona King.
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the
2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting
consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant
increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with
tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a
whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills
known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that
current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of
mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand
for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies
like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades
hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed
product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came
from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly
inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese
coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time,
having sold through over 140 million units.
America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British
Parliament Member Oona King.
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the
2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting
consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant
increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with
tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a
whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills
known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that
current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of
mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand
for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies
like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades
hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed
product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came
from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly
inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese
coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time,
having sold through over 140 million units.
