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Rubaya coltan mine collapses again: over 200 dead, Congo says; five, say M23 rebels

Congo's Ministry of Mines said on Wednesday, March 4, that more than 200 people, about 70 of them children, were killed when a landslide hit the Rubaya coltan mine in North Kivu province, Al Jazeera reported. The wounded were taken to Goma. Al Jazeera said heavy rain triggered the landslide; The EastAfrican dated it to Tuesday, March 3. A similar collapse at the same site in late January also killed more than 200 people.

The mine is controlled by the M23 rebel group, and the rebels reject the government's figures. The Associated Press, in a report carried by the Chronicle, quoted senior M23 official Fanny Kaj saying only five people died and that the cause was not a landslide. A miner, Ibrahim Taluseke, said he helped recover more than 200 bodies.

“There was no landslide; there were bombings.” — Fanny Kaj, M23, via AP

Rubaya produces about 15% of the world's coltan, processed into tantalum for phones, computers and aerospace parts. AP said M23 seized the area in May 2024 and, citing a UN report, collects at least $800,000 a month in taxes on the coltan trade. Al Jazeera noted that Congo recently put the site on a shortlist of mining assets offered to the United States.

How each outlet framed it

• Al Jazeera — the toll, the children, and the mine's place in global supply and US minerals talks.
• AP — the dispute over what happened, and how the rebels profit from the mine.
• The EastAfrican — a regional view, linking earlier deadly landslides in eastern Congo.

Where the numbers differ: the government says more than 200; M23's Kaj told AP five; an M23 official told Reuters, cited by The EastAfrican, “only five or six”. The rebels' control of the site makes independent checks difficult.