The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone

Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by scorpioxy on Monday September 29, 2025 @01:01AM (#45410466)

Interesting and still going through the article but I thought a lot of the metals would come from Africa. Somewhere like the Congo. I read a few articles a few years ago about how the conflict there was being fed by the multinationals that want access to the rare-earth metals that the area is famous for. Specifically, the allegation was pointed at telecom and smartphone manufacturers.

Learning about the conflict that has been going on for quite a while, makes me believe that something is fueling that fire. Didn't expect to see Spain as step 1.

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by ____mr____ on Monday September 29, 2025 @04:05AM (#45411366)

I wondered the same thing and apparently China, India, Brazil and Turkey outrank Spain in exportation of quartz, it was just the authors decision to go with Spain (probably because it was an example of a direct line from quarry to furnace?) but yeah, this is obviously not the only route that makes chips.

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by gsf_emergency_2 on Monday September 29, 2025 @10:00AM (#45413946)

I was amused that higher quality quartz from Spruce Pines NC (Sibelco) doesn't go into the chips themselves, but the silicon crucibles (makes sense in retrospect because you need your tools to be finer than the product, but as a chip-user..) and display glass

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by chromehearts on Monday September 29, 2025 @03:22AM (#45411138)

I think Congo was especially rich about Lithium! Which is primarily used for batteries of course

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by Aurornis on Monday September 29, 2025 @01:29AM (#45410584)

You’re thinking of tantalum, which is only used for a specific type of capacitor.

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by bilbo0s on Monday September 29, 2025 @03:20AM (#45411130)

"only"?

Because there are so many alternative materials fit for purpose. /s

That "only" is kind of "Jedi Hand Wave"-esque.

That said, neither Spain, nor Congo are the be all end all. The required resources exist elsewhere, but I mean.. you know.. money and politics.

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by Aurornis on Monday September 29, 2025 @09:13AM (#45413320)

> That "only" is kind of "Jedi Hand Wave"-esque.

The “only” is because the article was not about tantalum capacitors, and therefore it didn’t come up in the article.

I was not making any comments trying to diminish any problems. Merely explaining why it’s not in the article per the parent comment.

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Re:The Long Trip from Silica to Smartphone by close04 on Monday September 29, 2025 @08:34AM (#45412928)

Congo is the largest supplier of Cobalt (70% of the world supply). This is why a lot o battery manufacturers advertise their reduced reliance on Cobalt.

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