Скачать или смотреть 'No Coltan, No Cobalt In Rwanda' - Mining Expert

In an interesting exchange in February 2025, an individual who presented as a mining expert based in Colorado, and requested anonymity, claimed that Rwanda has no significant deposits of coltan, cobalt, or gold.

Speaking during a livestream hosted by Congolese digital creator Muyisa Michelline (@MuyisaMichelline), the alleged expert said his identity could not be disclosed due to the sensitivity of his work. Using satellite imagery, he explained that Central Africa’s mineral deposits follow specific geological “veins” running through eastern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo, notably in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Kasai, and Bandundu. Rwanda, he argued, lies outside these geological formations.

According to him, Western buyers are aware that the so-called “Rwandan” minerals largely originate in the DRC. This claim echoes remarks made by President Paul Kagame in November 2022, when he acknowledged that minerals entering Rwanda from Congo are mostly in transit, bound for destinations such as Dubai, Brussels, and Tel Aviv.

Despite this, Rwanda reported $1.1 billion in mining revenues in 2023, a 43 per cent year-on-year increase. A 2021 US Geological Survey report showed that the United States sourced 36 percent of its niobium and tantalum from Rwanda, compared to just 7 percent from the DRC.

A UN expert’s report published in December 2024 found that after Rwanda backed the M23 rebels, who seized the Rubaya area, home to the largest coltan mines in eastern Congo, they imposed taxes amounting to approximately $800,000 per month and facilitated the transfer of minerals into Rwanda.

Rwanda and its international backers remain central actors in Congo’s nearly 30-year resource war, a conflict that has claimed an estimated 6 million lives and displaced more than 7 million people, with violence continuing today.

Video credit: @muyisamichelline / @congoamerica (IG)