Tech-Friendly, But Human-Unfriendly Mining in the Congo - Marcus Bleasdale

Democratic Republic of the Congo is a mineral-wealthy country that has bad infrastructure and worse leadership that conspire to keep its citizens as some of the world's poorest. Photographer Marcus Bleasdale visited the country's mines to witness the situation of those who are extracting precious metals like tungsten, tin and tantalum from the earth, which will end up in smart phones and computers around the world. Child soldiers and corrupt police make visiting the region treacherous, but Bleasdale says that people need to see where the ingredients for their technology originate. His photos appear in the October, 2013 article "The Price of Precious," in National Geographic magazine.