{"id":2000102499,"date":"2026-02-19T12:40:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000102499"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:40:42","slug":"drc-offers-u-s-the-rubaya-coltan-mine-under-m23-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/drc-offers-u-s-the-rubaya-coltan-mine-under-m23-control\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC offers U.S. the Rubaya coltan mine under M23 control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reuters reports that the list was presented at a DRC-U.S. meeting in Washington on February 5 to advance their strategic minerals partnership agreed in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal offers Washington access to highly sought tantalum, a heat-resistant metal processed from coltan ore used in semiconductors, aerospace components, computers, mobile phones and gas turbines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congo estimates that Rubaya needs $50 million to $150 million to restart and ramp up commercial output. The mine accounts for around 15% of the world\u2019s coltan output, all dug manually by locals earning a few dollars a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal puts the U.S. at the center of Congo\u2019s strategic minerals push. However, with the Rubaya mine and surrounding hills still under the control of the M23 rebels, it remains unclear how Washington could exercise control over the site or secure its operations, given ongoing fighting and the possibility of disputes over mining rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFC\/M23 political coordinator, Corneille Nangaa, has in the past criticised the deal, calling it \u201cdeeply flawed and unconstitutional\u201d and highlighting concerns over transparency and legal procedures. He said mining sites offered to Washington \u201ccould later become the subject of disputes because they may already have been granted to other partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This file photo shows miners at work at a coltan mining site in the town of Rubaya.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic Republic of Congo has added the rebel-held Rubaya coltan mine, one of the world\u2019s richest tantalum deposits, to a shortlist of strategic assets it is offering to the United States under a minerals cooperation framework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000102501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151,99],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000102499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-editors-choice","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000102501,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1800,"height":1184,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","width":150,"height":99},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","width":300,"height":197},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","width":768,"height":505},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","width":1024,"height":674},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800x1184.jpg","width":1800,"height":1184}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000102499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000102502,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000102499\/revisions\/2000102502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000102501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000102499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000102499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000102499"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000102499"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000102499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}