Particle.news
Download on the App Store
28 ARTICLES
·
5d ago

Over 200 Feared Dead in Landslides at Rebel‑Held Rubaya Coltan Mines in Eastern DRC

Recovery in M23‑controlled Rubaya faces heavy rains, phone outages, limited access.

Image
Photo taken on May 7, 2025 shows miners at work at a coltan mining site in the town of Rubaya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC. In the mist-veiled highlands of Masisi territory, a silent war for control over one of the world's most strategic minerals is raging. Rubaya, a remote town in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC, has once again found itself at the heart of a global supply chain entangled in armed conflict and rebel rule. Since April 2024, the March 23 Movement M23 rebel group has maintained control over Rubaya's lucrative coltan mining sites. The ore -- columbite-tantalite, commonly known as coltan -- yields tantalum, a rare metal essential for manufacturing smartphones, fighter jets, medical implants, and advanced electronics. According to United Nations estimates, Rubaya alone accounts for more than 15 percent of the world's tantalum supply. (Photo by Zheng Yangzi/Xinhua via Getty Images) TO GO WITH Feature: Mist and metal -- coltan grab in eastern DR Congo
FILE - Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan mining quarry in Rubaya, Congo, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
Image

Overview

  • The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government and rebel‑appointed local officials report a death toll exceeding 200, with many bodies still unrecovered and figures not independently verified.
  • Two slides on Wednesday and Thursday during the rainy season collapsed multiple shafts, and about 20 wounded have been treated locally with transfers to Goma planned.
  • The M23‑appointed administration has paused artisanal mining at the site and ordered the relocation of people living near the pits.
  • Rubaya supplies roughly 15% of global coltan used to produce tantalum for electronics, where largely unregulated artisanal tunnels and reports of child labor create chronic safety risks.
  • U.N. experts say M23 taxes coltan trade for about $800,000 a month, and Kinshasa blames the tragedy on armed occupation and organized looting, allegations Rwanda rejects.