{"id":260353,"date":"2026-01-31T02:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260353\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T02:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:55:09","slug":"more-than-200-killed-in-coltan-mine-collapse-in-east-congo-official-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260353\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 200 killed in coltan mine collapse in east Congo, official says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA general view of mining pits in Rubaya on March 5, 2025.
\nPhoto: AFP\/SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n

More than 200 people were killed this week in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Rubaya produces around 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.<\/p>\n

The site, where locals dig manually for a few dollars per day, has been under the control of the M23 rebel group since 2024.<\/p>\n

The collapse occurred on Wednesday and the precise toll was still unclear as of Friday evening.<\/p>\n

“More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” Muyisa said.<\/p>\n

An adviser to the governor said the number of confirmed dead was at least 227. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.<\/p>\n

The United Nations says M23 has plundered Rubaya’s riches to help fund its insurgency, backed by the government of neighbouring Rwanda, an allegation Kigali denies.<\/p>\n

The heavily-armed rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government in Kinshasa and ensure the safety of the Congolese Tutsi minority, captured even more mineral-rich territory in eastern Congo during a lightning advance last year.<\/p>\n

– Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A general view of mining pits in Rubaya on March 5, 2025. Photo: AFP\/SUPPLIED More than 200 people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-260353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}