Near 400 feared dead in DRC mine collapse

Up to 400 people are feared dead after heavy rains triggered landslides at an informal mining site in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the deadliest recent accidents in a region where artisanal mining is closely tied to armed conflict.

The collapse occurred last Wednesday and Thursday at the Rubaya mining area, a sprawling network of pits and underground shafts that supplies an estimated 15% to 30% of the world’s coltan, the ore used to produce tantalum for electronic devices.

The scale of the casualties only became public late Friday, with many miners still missing and believed to be buried under debris, trapped underground or swept away by floodwaters.

In a statement over the weekend, Congo’s government said the site operates in “a complete absence of safety standards” and accused the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, which has controlled Rubaya since 2024, of illegally exploiting the mines and sharply increasing production over the past year. It described the operation as pillage and said the deaths could amount to a war crime under international law.

Conflict minerals

The disaster has drawn renewed attention to the conflict minerals trade in eastern Congo, where armed groups tax artisanal mining to fund their operations. United Nations investigators estimate M23 earns about $800,000 (C$1.09 billion) a month from coltan extracted at Rubaya, underscoring how dangerous working conditions, illicit supply chains and regional conflict are tightly intertwined.

Thousands of people work daily at the Rubaya site, digging by hand with basic tools for a few dollars a day, according to aid groups and local officials. The Congolese government said between 112 and 125 tonnes of coltan are extracted from the area each month and transported across the border into Rwanda through what it described as an “industrial-scale illicit supply chain.”

The government said Rwanda’s official coltan exports rose by more than 200% last year, a surge it attributed to minerals originating from M23-controlled territory. It also said international initiatives designed to tag and trace minerals from conflict zones have failed to curb illicit production or improve safety at sites such as Rubaya. More than 300 people were killed in similar accidents at the mine last year, it added.

M23 rejected the accusations on Sunday night, saying the Congolese government had ignored a long list of deadly mining accidents in areas under state control. The group said the Rubaya collapse was caused by exceptional weather conditions and argued that miners were forced into dangerous work by poverty and mismanagement.

Rwanda’s role

Rwanda has long denied backing M23, but last month its diplomats told a U.S. congressional subcommittee that the government engages in “security co-ordination” with the militia and is seeking a security buffer inside eastern Congo.

UN investigators, however, say Rwanda’s involvement is far deeper, estimating that between 6,000 and 7,000 Rwandan troops, along with sophisticated weaponry, are operating in support of the group.

In a report to the UN Security Council released in early January, the investigators said M23 has established a parallel administration across large parts of eastern Congo, including the cities of Goma and Bukavu. The group has also expanded into South Kivu province, where it controls much of the region’s production of coltan, cassiterite and wolframite.

The report said M23 also taxes thousands of small-scale miners at unofficial gold sites in the province and has taken control of the Twangiza gold mine, which entered production in 2012 under Toronto-based Banro before being sold to Chinese investors.