Human rights groups have expressed concern about conditions at the mine, which supplies about 15% of the world’s coltan, used in advanced electronics.

More than 200 people have reportedly died in the mine collapse, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, a spokesman for the province where the Rubaya coltan mine is located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, told Reuters.

The mine, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, collapsed on Wednesday, with the exact number of casualties still unclear as of Friday evening, Reuters reported.

“The landslide killed more than 200 people, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued in time and were seriously injured,” Muisa told Reuters, adding that about 20 injured were being treated in medical facilities.

“We are in the rainy season. The ground is fragile. While the victim was in the hole, the ground collapsed,” he said.

Eraston Bahati Musanga, the governor of North Kivu province appointed by the M23 rebel group, told AFP on Friday that “some bodies have been recovered” but did not give a specific number of casualties but suggested the death toll could be high.

An adviser to the province’s governor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the death toll had exceeded 200.

Agence France-Presse said the death toll could not be confirmed by independent sources as of Friday evening.

Franck Bolingo, an artisanal miner interviewed by AFP in Rubaya, said people were believed to be trapped inside the mine.

“It rained and then there were landslides that swept people away. Some were buried alive and some are still trapped in the shafts,” Bolingo said.

Rubaya produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal in high demand by manufacturers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.

Mine, where is it? Local people dig by hand A few dollars a day has been controlled at Rwanda-backed M23 Previously, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo changed hands with a rebel group, becoming a rebel group since 2024.

The heavily armed M23 rebels, who claim they aim to overthrow the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government in the capital Kinshasa, seized the mineral-rich eastern part of the country in a lightning offensive last year.

The United Nations accuses M23 rebels of looting Rubaya’s resources to fund their Rwandan-backed insurgency, a charge the Kigali government denies.

Despite the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s rich mineral resources, more than 70% of Congolese people live on less than US$2.15 a day.