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AI data centers run on Congo metals
It is the same family of metals that goes into smartphones and tablets, with lithium and nickel added for batteries. The rush to build data centers as fast as possible has added a new source of demand to a supply chain already tainted by child labor, slavery, violence, and environmental destruction. Conditions at the mines have not improved much and in some ways have worsened as demand has grown.
Changing the battery does not leave the Congo behind. Lithium iron phosphate and solid-state batteries always contain lithium, and one of the biggest lithium deposits now sits in the Congo, near the town of Manono. A Chinese mining company began shipping from it in June 2026, and colleagues who have been there describe conditions as horrific as the cobalt mines.
Why do data centers need tantalum?
Tantalum capacitors store electrical charge in a very small space and stay stable under heat. That makes them common on circuit boards in servers and other dense electronics. Tantalum comes mainly from an ore called coltan. The United States Geological Survey lists Congo and neighboring Rwanda among the leading sources of tantalum ore.
Why do electronics use so much tin and copper?
Copper conducts electricity and heat very well, which is why it forms the wiring traces on circuit boards and the fins of heat sinks. Tin is the main ingredient of solder, the alloy that joins components to boards. The European Union's RoHS directive, which took effect in 2006, pushed the industry from lead solder toward tin-based alloys. A single server board can hold thousands of solder joints.
Why is there so much lithium at Manono?
The Manono area holds pegmatites, coarse-grained igneous rocks that crystallized from the last molten fluids of a cooling magma body. Those fluids concentrate rare elements, including lithium. Manono was long known as a tin mining district before its lithium was explored. Spodumene from such pegmatites is the main hard-rock source of lithium, the same type mined in Western Australia.