More than 200 people have died after a landslide triggered by heavy rains struck the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country's mines ministry says.
The ministry said the collapse occurred on Tuesday and that around 70 children were among those killed.
Many injured people were evacuated to health facilities in the city of Goma.
A senior official from the AFC/M23 rebel group, which controls the mine, gave a far lower death toll, telling Reuters that only five or six people died in the accident.
Rubaya produces around 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal widely used in mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.
The site has been under the control of the AFC/M23 rebel group since 2024.
It was recently added to a shortlist of mining assets being offered by the Congolese government to the United States under a minerals cooperation framework.
The disaster came about a month after another incident at the same mining site killed more than 200 people in late January.
Heavy rainfall in eastern Congo has previously triggered landslides and mining accidents in areas where artisanal miners work in difficult and often hazardous conditions.
