After watching the 60 Minutes program, I was left a little confused and lost, too. I could not believe that "gold" was the source of conflicts in eastern Congo. I had never heard about the gold conflict.
I thought 60 Minutes was trying to dumb-down the conflict to make it comparable to the past "blood diamond" conflicts of West Africa. I believe coltan is more comparable to diamond both in fact and impact on the local population.
But the problem with coltan which is primary component of cell or mobile phones is a close to a necessity versus a luxury. No one is ready to get up a necessary item used worldwide by everyone including Africans. Mobile phones are so critical to development in most of Africa.
Coltan and even gold can not be scientifically traced back to the mine of origin. Although, research is progressing toward a Kimberly-like process for coltan.
So 60 Minutes did not want to open that can of worms. But they hoped Americans could relate gold to Congo. Also, the price of gold is at all time highs. For Christmas, everyone could blame the waring factions of eastern Congo when they went jewelry shopping.
African Arguments » Blog Archive » Three Problems with the 60 Minutes Story on “Congo Gold”.
On 29 November 2009, the U.S. television news show 60 Minutes aired a segment called “Congo Gold”. This segment purported to expose the link between gold and war in Congo, but there were three major problems with the 60 Minutes story that merit attention and discussion.
1. Although the 60 Minutes story focuses on current conflict in South Kivu, most of the footage used in the story is of a gold mine in the relatively peaceful Ituri District, a few hundred miles to the north. ...
2. The second problem could be summarized as “The Enough Project”, but more specifically, the problem is the statements made by John Prendergast, Enough’s director. In the segment, Prendergast states: “If you do a conflict analysis you will find that when there are spikes in violence, it has something to do with contestation over the mineral resources, gold and the rest of them.” ...
3. The third problem is the suggestion that gold can or should be cut off from Congo. In his interview with Scott Rumsey from the Responsible Jewelry Council, correspondent Scott Pelley asks: “Why can’t the industry cut off the [gold] supply from Congo and strangle the civil war there?” ...