A labourer carries a shovel as he walks at the Rubaya coltan mine, in the town of Rubaya, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
RUBAYA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes.
The laborers are hauling coltan ore, a mineral that powers the modern world. The ore will be loaded onto motorbikes and eventually shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia. There it’s processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that fetches more than $300 a kilogram and is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.
