Partnering with the UK-based Mines Advisory Group Thum and Zapolski have already overseen the destruction of 6, 000 confiscated guns in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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"For a British company to be selling a piece of technology that is useless when it's meant to be saving lives is abhorrent, " Lou McGrath, chief executive of the charity, Mines Advisory Group, told Newsnight.

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Additionally the company mines, processes, and refines the platinum group metals.

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The group based its decision on the 1954 Mines and Quarries Act which classes five deaths or more as a disaster.

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Data gathered in recent weeks by the UN Group of Experts shows that many have moved to work in mines in neighbouring provinces.

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On Monday influential New York Times columnist Paul Krugman voiced his concern that China mines 97% of the global supply of the 17 elements that make up the rare earth minerals group.

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