Title
Presented
Story
Cell phones and laptops rely on a particular mineral called colombite tantalum – coltan for short - and the growing demand for the material in the west has had ramifications in some pretty distant corners of the world.
Reporter Gregory Warner visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most of the world’s coltan is found, and where military factions are vying for control of an industry worth millions of dollars. There he met miner Fidele Musafiri who is just barely scraping by.
Fidele Musafiri, Miner won the Best News Feature Award in the 2009 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. The story was produced with editor John Haas and engineer Ben Shapiro.
Producer
Gregory Warner is a senior beat reporter for Marketplace covering the business and economics of health care. As a freelance radio producer he traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa to produce stories for This American Life, Radiolab, and other programs. His profile of a cassiterite miner in Congo won the 2009 Third Coast Festival award for Best News Feature. Warner lives in Philadelphia
Extra
Fidele Musafiri, Miner first aired on Marketplace, as part of Homelands Productions' Working series.