As production of mobile phones increase, gorilla populations will decrease. The race to mine tantalum for mobile phone giants has caused the amount of miners to swell to over 5000 in the Okapi Faunal Reserve. To sustain and make open spaces for camps- miners hunted gorillas, monkeys and other wildlife. Large animals like gorillas are usually butchered and eaten on the spot. Bushmeat hunting and the destruction of forest habitat in search of tantalum are the chief causes for the alarming decline.
Environmentalists wants buyers to ban tantalum mining from Congo parks.