Over 200 dead in DRC coltan mine landslide | Mining News

About 70 of the victims, including children, were evacuated to medical facilities, Congo’s mines ministry said.

A landslide triggered by heavy rains has killed more than 200 people at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.

About 70 children were among the victims and others injured were evacuated to medical facilities in the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, the DRC’s mines ministry said on Wednesday.

Fanny Kaz, a senior official with the M23 rebel group that controls the mines, disputed the government figure and said the collapse was caused by “bombs” and that only five people had died.

“I can confirm that what people are publishing is not true. There was no landslide; there were bomb blasts and people are not telling the death toll. It is only about five people who died,” Kaz said.

Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner who was at the site, said he helped pull out more than 200 bodies from the area.

“We’re scared, but these are lives at stake,” Taluseke told the Associated Press news agency. “The owner of the pits will not admit that the exact number of deaths will not be disclosed.”

A senior official from the AFC (Congo River Alliance)/M23 Rwanda-backed rebel group, which has controlled the mine since 2024, told Reuters news agency that “continued operations” at the site are discouraged.

“Pending security of the area and implementation of protective measures for the miners. The incident is due to heavy rains in the past few days,” the official said.

A similar collapse at the site in late January killed more than 200 people after heavy rains. At the time, Congolese authorities blamed the incident on the rebels and said they were allowing illegal mining without adequate safety standards.

Rubaya produces about 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum and is in high demand by industries to make mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.

The site was recently added to a shortlist of mining assets being offered to the United States by the Congolese government under the Minerals Cooperation Framework.