Inside the mine that feeds the tech world - and funds Congo’s rebels

Reuters ^ | August 13, 2025 10:00 AM UTC | Giulia Paravicini and David Lewis

[E. Pluribus Unum]

RUBAYA, Democratic Republic of Congo - 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.

Rubaya produces around 15% of the world’s coltan, all dug manually by impoverished locals who earn a few dollars per day. Control of this mine is the biggest prize in a long-running conflict in this central African nation.

The area was seized in April 2024 by M23, a rebel group the United Nations says has plundered Rubaya’s riches to help fund its insurgency, backed by the government of neighboring Rwanda. 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 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year.

The region and its mineral wealth are in the spotlight as M23 and the DRC have pledged to sign a peace deal at a ceremony in Qatar’s capital, Doha, this month. The United States is mediating parallel talks between Congo and Rwanda, dangling potentially billions of dollars in investment if hostilities cease.

The United States Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned other alleged participants in minerals smuggling in Congo, including PARECO-FF, a pro-government Congolese militia that the U.S. said controlled the Rubaya mining site from 2022 to early 2024, prior to M23’s...

[Carry_Okie]

Finding a better material for capacitors would kill that problem. One would think it doable with AI.

[TangoLimaSierra]

"...coltan, all dug manually by impoverished locals who earn a few dollars per day."

They say that like it's a bad thing.

[GingisK]

Finding a better material for capacitors would kill that problem.

Using tantalum in capacitors is a fairly recent development, one that resulted from years of research.

One would think it doable with AI.

AI doesn't do any actual research. It finds and publishes information that is already on the Internet.

[Carry_Okie]

Using tantalum in capacitors is a fairly recent development, one that resulted from years of research.

In the business of manufacturing microwave hybrids modules, we were using tantalum capacitors over 35 years ago.

AI doesn't do any actual research.

AI is very effective for running combinatorial possibilities in molecular modeling. Consider MatterGen for example.

[GingisK]

we were using tantalum capacitors over 35 years ago

That is "recent" as far as capacitors go. I remember when they were introduced. The miniaturization of passive components is astounding, really. I can remember when a 10uF capacitor was not so small.

It would be a shame when AI takes the human element out of research. We might as well just kill ourselves.

[Carry_Okie]

It would be a shame when AI takes the human element out of research.

The work will be different. It will be a long time before AI takes hold in field biology.