How conflict minerals funded a war that killed millions, and why tech giants are finally cleaning up their act

Mburano's story reflects the misery that war and mineral wealth has brought to the DRC. At the mine he worked alongside about 15,000 others, digging for the mineral cassiterite and panning for gold in a nearby river. But after an armed militia seized control of the mine in 2008, working conditions descended into what Mburano describes as "slavery."
"Sometimes people worked 24 hours out of 24, night and day, using head-mounted lamps -- one team working days and one doing nights. At the time there were no rules, and sometimes miners died of fatigue. There were also deaths because the pits were deep and there was flooding," said Mburano.
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-conflict-minerals-funded-a-war-that-killed-millions/