The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is widely known to be the wealthiest country in the world, in untapped resource wealth and has an estimated US$24 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, including the world's largest reserves of coltan (where elements niobium and tantalum are extracted) and significant quantities of the world's cobalt and lithium. The DRC has limitless water, from the world's second largest river, the Congo, a mild climate, rich soil makes it fertile and beneath the soil an abundance. These mineral reserves are of global importance.