PHOTO ESSAY: Congo coltan miners dig for world's tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge

Key Points

• At the artisanal Rubaya mining site in eastern Congo, hundreds of men dig by hand to extract coltan, a mineral vital for electronics and defense technology.
• Eastern Congo’s mineral wealth has fueled decades of violence involving government forces and armed groups, leaving local communities in turmoil.
• President Felix Tshisekedi is negotiating with the U.S., offering greater access to coltan resources in exchange for American support to quell insurgency and improve security.
• Traders and miners like Bahati Moïse say workers remain undervalued and impoverished despite the global demand for the minerals they unearth.

RUBAYA, Congo (AP) — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo, at the artisanal Rubaya mining site, hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial for producing modern electronics and defense technology.

Rubaya lies in the heart of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich part of the Central African nation which for decades has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and various armed groups.

As the U.S. spearheads peace talks between Congo and Rwanda, Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has sought out a deal with the Trump administration, offering mineral access in return for American support in quelling the insurgency and boosting security.

Bahati Moïse, a trader who resells coltan from Rubaya’s mines, hopes that, regardless who controls the mines, the workers who labor to extract the minerals will finally be valued as much as the resources themselves.

“The whole country, the whole world knows that phones are made from the coltan mined here, but look at the life we ​​live,” he said. “We can’t continue like this.”

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Text from AP News story: “Congo’s coltan miners dig for world’s tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge,” by David Yusufu Kibingila and Monika Pronczuk

Photos by Moses Sawasawa

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