'NO COLTAN, NO COBALT IN RWANDA' - MINING EXPERT

According to an anonymous mining expert from Colorado, USA, Rwanda has no coltan, cobalt, or gold deposits.

He claimed this during a livestream hosted by Congolese digital creator Muyisa Michelline (@MuyisaMichelline on Instagram), choosing to keep his identity hidden due to the sensitive nature of his job.

Based on satellite imaging of Central Africa, the mining expert said mineral deposits are contained in geological structures akin to veins in a human body, running down the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, then onward to Kasai and Bandundu provinces. Rwanda, to the east of the DRC, happens to be outside the path of these geological ‘veins.’

The mining expert claimed Western buyers of ‘Rwandan’ minerals know that it does not have a mineral portfolio of note, if at all. In November 2022, at a ministerial swearing-in, Rwandan President Paul Kagame acknowledged that Rwanda acts as a transit point for smuggled Congolese minerals. He remarked, ‘Some people come from Congo, whether they smuggle or go through the right channel, they bring minerals. But most of it goes through here, but does not stay here. It goes to Dubai, to Brussels, Tel Aviv.’

Rwanda reported mining revenues of $1.1 billion in 2023, a 43 per cent year-on-year increase. An eye-popping 2021 report from the US Geological Survey revealed that the US sourced 36 per cent of niobium and tantalum ores and concentrates from Rwanda, the highest share among global suppliers, while only 7 per cent came from the DRC.

A December 2024 UN experts’ report noted that after Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 rebels seized the Rubaya region, home to the largest coltan mines in eastern DRC, they imposed taxes generating $800,000 monthly on extracted minerals and ensured their transfer to Rwanda.

Rwanda and its international allies are key players in Congo's nearly 30-year resource war, which cost a recorded 6 million lives by 2010 and internally displaced about 7 million as of last year, with more blood shed every day.

Video credit: @muyisamichelline / @congoamerica (IG)

Sources:

https://www.voanews.com/a/rwandan-mining-soars-as-minerals-certified-conflict-free/1798931.html

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2024-002684_EN.html

https://www.mining.com/web/congo-rebel-gains-to-boost-illicit-mineral-trade-through-rwanda-analysts-say

https://amsterdamandpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.25-AP-DRC-Blood-Minerals.pdf

https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf

https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/rwanda-mining-and-minerals

https://youtu.be/Opf0b_svQl8?t=3444

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/2/blood-minerals-what-are-the-hidden-costs-of-the-eu-rwanda-supply-deal

https://www.forbesafrica.com/opinion/op-ed/2023/03/29/rwandas-mining-sector-is-poised-for-even-more-growth-as-commodity-prices-continue-to-rise

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congo-rebel-gains-boost-illicit-mineral-trade-through-rwanda-analysts-say-2025-01-28

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-rwanda-minerals-agreement-coltan-ore-mining-conflict-smuggling-rubaya-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-paul-kagame

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war

https://drcongo.iom.int/en/news/internal-displacement-overview-2024-published

https://docs.un.org/en/s/2024/969

https://rwandadispatch.com/rwandas-mineral-exports-rise-to-a-record-1-1-billion-in-2023