MENA Newswire, GOMA: More than 200 people were killed after a landslide triggered the collapse of artisanal coltan mines at Rubaya in North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, local authorities said. The incident happened on January 28 during heavy rains that destabilized ground around multiple hand dug shafts. Rescue teams and residents searched through mud and debris for survivors, while many victims were believed to remain buried at the site.
Provincial officials said the dead included miners as well as civilians who had been in the area, including women and children. Health workers in Rubaya treated injured survivors, and some of the wounded were due to be transferred to hospitals in Goma, the nearest major city. Local leaders said the scale of the collapse complicated recovery efforts in the remote mining zone, where access roads are limited and equipment is scarce.
Rubaya is one of the best known mining areas in North Kivu and a key source of coltan, an ore used to produce tantalum for electronics and aerospace components. The mines are largely informal, with workers digging narrow tunnels and pits with limited protective structures. Such sites are vulnerable to flooding and collapses during the rainy season, and safety oversight is often minimal in areas where state services are weak or absent.
Authorities said artisanal mining was temporarily suspended after the collapse, and residents living close to unstable slopes and mine openings were ordered to relocate. The halt was intended to reduce further casualties and allow search operations to proceed. Community members reported that people had built makeshift shelters near work areas and market stalls had formed around the mines, increasing the number of non miners exposed when the ground gave way.
Safety measures and emergency response
Officials described the collapse as a chain event affecting several pits as rain soaked earth slid downhill, filling shafts and burying workers. Local responders relied heavily on manual digging because heavy machinery is limited in the area. Medical facilities in and around Rubaya are small and typically handle routine mining injuries, leaving them strained by a mass casualty incident. The death toll remained above 200 as recovery continued, with officials warning that counts could change as more bodies were found.
Rubaya lies in territory controlled by the M23 rebel group, which has held parts of North Kivu since 2024. The mining economy in the area has continued under that control, with local administrators appointed in rebel run structures overseeing day to day governance. Officials said coltan extraction at Rubaya is a major source of income in the region, where conflict and displacement have disrupted other livelihoods and made mining one of the few available sources of cash.
The collapse renewed attention on the risks faced by artisanal miners across eastern Congo, where thousands work in informal pits for small daily earnings. Miners and local residents have long reported that tunnels are often dug quickly, expanded without reinforcement and operated around the clock to maximize production. In such conditions, heavy rains can rapidly weaken walls and ceilings, and landslides can sweep through open excavations with little warning.
Coltan supply and conflict zone mining
Rubaya’s output is part of a wider global supply chain for minerals used in consumer electronics, including smartphones and computers. Eastern Congo has vast reserves of coltan, cobalt, gold and other resources, and mining areas frequently overlap with zones affected by armed groups. Local officials said revenues from coltan in the Rubaya area have been significant, with taxation of mining activity generating substantial monthly income under the current administration.
For families in Rubaya and surrounding villages, the disaster left an immediate humanitarian burden, including funeral costs and the loss of household income. Local leaders called for support for the injured and for families of the dead, while recovery teams continued to search for missing people in mud filled pits. Authorities said the suspension of mining would remain in place as safety assessments continued and residents near high risk areas were moved away from unstable ground.