W A S H I N G T O N -- You may not have heard of coltan, but you have it in your cell phone, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices. It is important to everyday communication in the United ...

RUBAYA, Congo — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo, the artisanal Rubaya mining site hums with the sound of generators, as hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key ...

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is rich in natural resources – its untapped deposits of minerals are estimated to be worth US trillion. Gold, diamonds, cobalt and zinc are among them. Another ...

Seizures of coltan in Colombia have shown the complex networks used by armed groups to smuggle the valuable mineral from illegal mines across the border in Venezuela. Prosecutors announced on August ...

In the yard of the Shenimed sorting house, young men are busy sorting and cleaning colombo-tantalite ore, or coltan, as it is known in this part of the world. Regional analysts say the international ...

MARTIN IS A Congolese pastor with a sideline in coltan smuggling. “You can hide it in the petrol tank of a motorbike,” he says, “or in a secret compartment under a lorry.” He smuggles coltan into ...

Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo, the artisanal Rubaya mining site hums with the sound of generators, as hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial ...

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa) RUBAYA, Congo (AP) — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi ...

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 ...