WATERLOO REGION - Kirsten Van Houten is helping people make the links between their smartphones and the brutal war ravaging the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Van Houten is collecting signatures in support of the Just Minerals Campaign - a national effort to raise awareness of minerals that are mined in Africa and used in cellphones and computers. So far, she has collected more than 100 signatures.

The minerals are tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. Van Houten and the Just Minerals Campaign are concerned about the supply chains for tech companies that start in Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and the Congo.

The Just Minerals Campaign is in support of New Democratic MP Paul Dewar's private member's bill called the Conflict Minerals Act. It is modelled on U.S. legislation that will require all companies to publicly report on the source of minerals used their products.

"We would like to indicate there is support in this community," Van Houten said. "We would also like to create consumer awareness and create demand for a fair trade cellphone."

The young woman wrote her master's thesis on the demand for small guns and light weapons in the Congo. She worked with Congolese refugees in Pretoria, South Africa. She also worked in northern Uganda. Van Houten plans to start her PhD at the University of Ottawa this fall and continue her research on the Congo.

"Rebel groups are taking control of mines throughout the eastern Congo and selling the minerals they extract to Canadian, American and Chinese companies to be used in electronics and jewelry," Van Houten said. "They are using the profits from that to purchase weapons."

The war in the Congo has killed an estimated 5.4 million people since 1998. The single, largest source of tantalum is in the eastern Congo, where most of the fighting occurs.

Van Houten said both Uganda and Rwanda access rare minerals mined illegally in the Congo through rebel groups.

Smartphones, computers, anything that uses a circuit board, uses coltan, which is made from tantalum. Coltan is used to make capacitors.

"That's where it really becomes relevant to Kitchener-Waterloo because this is where BlackBerry is based," Van Houten said.

A spokesperson for BlackBerry would not say how much coltan the company buys annually, but did say the company supports publicly reporting on company activities to prevent the funding of conflict. But that does not mean BlackBerry supports the Just Minerals Campaign or Dewar's private member's bill.

"The voluntary multi-stakeholder initiatives that we have worked on together represent the best opportunity to result in more significant impact on the issue," Rebecca Freiburger said in an email.

She said BlackBerry does not want to abandon central Africa as a source for the minerals.

"As we have demonstrated through our participation in projects such as Solutions for Hope and the Conflict-free Tin Initiative, metals can be verifiably sourced from this region," Freiburger said in an email.

"This supports the livelihoods of many thousands of people," she wrote. "Abandoning the Democratic Republic of the Congo would have severe ramifications for the local population who rely on mining as one source of income."

Tantalum is used to make capacitors that charge circuit boards with electricity. Tin is in the solder that holds the circuit board together. Gold conducts electricity really well. Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal and is used to make filaments for light bulbs, televisions, aircraft and missiles.

Steven Young, a professor at the University of Waterloo, said the U.S. legislation will force technology companies, starting next year, and the mining firms that supply them, to make public their sources and supply chains.

"So that mechanism for doing reporting is largely being created already," Young said.

That means Dewar's bill should not have an overwhelming financial impact on Canadian technology companies.

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Young sits on a committee with the electronics industry assessing the smelters in Africa that converts the minerals to the metals that are used in consumer electronics here. BlackBerry also has someone on that group. It is trying to decide which smelters are legitimate sources for the minerals instead of ones that are funding the purchase of weapons and furthering the conflict.

Young said this initiative by the private sector follows a long list of failures by governments in Africa, the United Nations and interventions in Africa.

"So this is an interesting turn to go to the private sector and say: 'Hey, you guys are buying this stuff, surely you should take some responsibility,'" Young said. "And to their credit they said: 'Yeah, we can see what we can do as well.' "