The Ministry of Mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed the death of over 200 people at the Rubaya mine due to a landslide caused by prolonged heavy rains. The tragedy occurred at one of the most important coltan mining sites in the world, which provides about 15% of global tantalum needs for electronics production. This was reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
The damaged mine was previously officially included in the list of assets where work was prohibited by the government due to critical safety conditions and the absence of proper protective structures. Despite this, the rebels continued to operate the mine, ignoring the risks to the lives of thousands of illegal prospectors.
The damaged facility is one of those where continued operation was prohibited until the area was secured and protective measures were taken for the miners. The incident occurred due to heavy rains in the last few days
Consequences for the global market and international cooperation
The disaster in Rubaya threatens not only the stability of critical raw material supplies for the aerospace and computer industries, but also the Congolese government's plans for cooperation with the United States.
This mine was recently included in the list of mining assets proposed to Washington for joint development as part of a new strategy to displace China's influence from the African mineral market. Currently, rescue operations are ongoing in extremely difficult conditions, and human rights organizations demand an immediate investigation into the activities of armed groups at the mining sites under their control.