Congo’s rebel-held coltan mines continue to pump ore for world’s tech

Deep in the green hills of Masisi territory in North Kivu province, the artisanal mining site at Rubaya hums with the sound of generators as piles of white dust dot the landscape.

Thousands of workers extract, by hand, strategic minerals such as coltan, cassiterite, and manganese—essential for the production of phones, batteries, and other modern technologies.

Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades with more than 100 armed groups, most of which are vying for territory in the mining region near the border with Rwanda.

The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian disasters with more than 7 million people displaced, including 100,000 who fled homes this year.

The Rubaya mine and surrounding area are under the control of the M23 armed group.

Mines like these have been at heart of discussions around M23’s takeover of part of eastern Congo, with the Congolese government alleging they want control of the minerals and are smuggling them illegally to Rwanda.

For the men working in Rubaya’s mines, little has changed, despite what some of them say are easier working conditions under the rebels.

Jean Baptiste Bigirimana has been working in the mines for seven years.

“I get 40 dollars a month, but that’s not enough. Children need clothes, education, and food. When I divide up the money to see how I will take care of the children, I realize it’s not enough,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know where the minerals he mines go once they leave Rubaya.

At times the mines were also under control of the Wazalendo, a militia allied with the Congolese army.

Alexis Twagira said he feels some things have improved under M23.

“I’ve been working in this mine for 13 years, and I’ve worked here under the Wazalendo. When they were here, they would harass us, sometimes taking our minerals and asking for money,” he said.

In April, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the signing by Congo and Rwanda of a pledge to work toward peace in the region that would ease U.S. access to minerals in eastern Congo.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi sought out a deal with the Trump administration that could offer the U.S. better access to his country’s resources in exchange for U.S. help calming hostilities.

Congo and Rwanda hope the involvement of the United States — and the incentive of major investment if there’s enough security for U.S. companies to work safely in east Congo — will calm the fighting and militia violence that have defied peacekeeping and negotiation since the mid-1990s.

Bahati Moïse is a trader who resells the coltan that leaves Rubaya’s mines.

He said he just hopes that mine workers can be valued as much as the minerals they work so hard to extract.

“The whole country, the whole world knows that phones are made from the coltan that comes here, but look at the life we live,” he said.

“We can’t continue like this.”

Cover photo:  The M23 rebels, who control Rubaya, are standing with their weapons in Kibumba, in eastern DRC, on December 23, 2022