EXCLUSIVE Picks, pans and bare hands: How miners in the heart of Africa toil in dire conditions to extract the rare minerals that power your iPhone

EXCLUSIVE: It may seem remarkable, but these men covered in mud, using techniques reminiscent of the 19th century gold rush in a distant corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to sort through the earth, are key to our modern lives lives. These miners - who work 12 hours a day - use primitive methods to unearth coltan, an essential component of smartphones. MailOnline visited the Luwow mine (pictured) in the eastern DRC to find hundreds of workers toiling with picks, shovels and pans. Many of these mines had been controlled by militia during years of conflict, the profits from which have funded weapons and ammunition for war. Luwow is now proud to be a non-conflict mine.