Conflict Coltan: How Smuggled DRC Minerals Reach the World's Electronics

A year-long Global Witness investigation reveals that conflict coltan smuggled from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo is reaching global markets and consumer electronics despite due diligence systems meant to prevent it. Investigators traced the mineral from the Rubaya mines in North Kivu, which supply around 15% of the world's tantalum, across the border into Rwanda and onward into international supply chains. The report found that the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, which seized the mines in 2024, uses coltan taxation to fund a war that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands, and that Rwandan officials facilitate the smuggling. The study also identifies how traceability schemes such as ITSCI have been used to launder smuggled coltan, names seven Rwandan exporters and eight smelters in China, Kazakhstan, and Thailand involved in the trade, and connects the material to global brands including Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Nvidia, Toyota, and Vodafone. The authors are calling for Rwandan troop withdrawal, targeted sanctions, and stronger enforcement of EU and US due diligence regulations to break the link between conflict and mineral supply chains.

Source: adapted from Global Witness, Jun 2026.