Rubaya, Congo - The mine buzz of the handmade Rubaya is located on the green hills of the territory of Masisi in the Congo, with the sound of generators, hundreds of men hand-learning the Coltan, which is crucial for the production of modern electronics and defense technologies and is widely sought around the world.

Rubaya is located in the heart of eastern Congo, a part of the mineral abundance of Central African countries, and over the decades of violence by government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, the recent recovery has escalated the conflict and created a sharp human crisis.

With peaceful negotiations between the United States and Congo and Rwanda, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi established a deal with the Trump administration that provides access to minerals in exchange for U.S. support for the rebellion and security.

Although details of the deal are not clear, analysts say Rubaya may be one of the mining sites that fall within its scope.

Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades. The conflict has caused one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with 7 million people displaced, including 100,000 people who fled their homes this year.

Rubaya minerals have been at the center of the battle, changing hands between the Congolese government and rebel groups. It has been controlled by the M23 rebels for more than a year, and he promoted and occupied the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavo earlier this year to a major conflict.

Despite the country's outstanding mineral wealth, more than 70% of Congolese live less than $2.15 a day.

For those working in Rubaya mines, relying on the mining industry to make a living, the violence over the decades has hardly changed.

One of them is Jean Baptiste Bigirimana, who worked in the mine for seven years.

"I make $40 a month, but that's not enough," he said. "Kids need clothes, education and food. When I allocated the money to see how I would take care of the kids, I realized it was not enough." He added that he didn't know where his minerals went once he left Rubaya.

These mines produce rock bodies - gravel rocks - ores - ores from which the ores of metal Tatan Tamu and niobium are extracted. Both are regarded as key raw materials by the United States, the European Union, China and Japan. Tatalum is used in mobile phones, computers and automotive electronics, as well as aircraft engines, missile components and GPS systems. Niobium is used in pipelines, rockets and jet engines.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Congo produces 40% of the global islands in 2023, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being other major suppliers.

The National Energy Emergency Official Order issued by Trump underlines the importance of key minerals, including Tatalum and the Nipez Islands, and calls for ensuring we have access to opportunities to ensure “modern life and military preparation.”

According to a UN report, since the capture of Rubaya in April last year, M23 has taxed 120 tons of coltan per month, generating at least $800,000 per month. UN experts said the noble was exported to Rwanda at that time. But even before M23 seized control of the mine, analysts said the mineral was sold to Rwanda, with the only difference being done through Congolese intermediaries.

Experts say tracking how the nobles reached Western countries is not easy.

"The global island supply chain is very vague," said Guillaume de Brier, a natural resources researcher at the Antwerp-based department of International Peace Information Services. "From the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Koltan is acquired by traders (mostly Lebanese or Chinese) who will sell it to exporters in Rwanda. The exporters will then ship it to the UAE or China, where it will be improved into Tantalm and Nibim and sold it to Western countries as metals from the UAE or China."

M23 had previously controlled Rubaya and claimed that the group was promoting the smuggling of these minerals to Rwanda even before Goma took over. According to Rwanda's official data, Rwanda's official island exports have doubled as M23 controls the mine.

Sometimes the mines were also under control by the militia of Vasaronto, which was aligned with the Congolese army.

Alexis Twagira said he felt something improved based on M23. "I worked in this mine for 13 years, under the leadership of Wazalendo. When they are here, they harass us, sometimes take our minerals and ask for money," he said.

The United Nations accused Congolese military and M23 insurgents of human rights violations.

Congo is the world's largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, but the fact that Chinese companies control 80% of its Congo production complicates U.S. use. Congo also produces gold.

In recent weeks, two U.S. companies have opened production doors in the region. American company Nathan Trotter signed a letter of intent with Rwanda-based Trinity Metals, which owns Rwanda's largest tin mine. Kobold Metals leverages artificial intelligence to further the energy transition and has been backed by billionaire Bill Gates and set up a deal to buy Australia's AVZ mineral interest in the Manono Lithium deposit in Congo.

Analysts warn that if it is to be achieved, there will be many obstacles in the implementation of mineral transactions in eastern Congo, especially in the past two decades that U.S. investors have largely abandoned Congo.

"The transformation of the title announcement into progress in sustainable development will require addressing deep doubts between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," an institute said in a recent report. "The agreement also requires addressing the complex local political issues of land acquisition and identity, the broader security challenges in a region with countless non-state armed groups and the scarcity of assets."

If the transaction includes Rubaya, which currently conducts all mining manually, U.S. companies will have to deal with security issues and a serious lack of infrastructure.

"With Coltan, you're dealing with thousands of miners, not just M23, but with other so-called automatic defense armed groups and individuals who rely on mining to survive," said De Brier of the International Peace Information Service. "You have to build all the infrastructure, you have to start from scratch. You even have to build roads."

Bahati Moïse, a businessman who resells Coltan from the mines in Rubaya, hopes that no matter who controls the mines, workers who work to extract minerals will eventually be as many as the resources themselves.

"The whole country, the whole world knows that mobile phones are made from the nobles mined here, but look at our lives," he said. "We can't continue like this."

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Pronczuk reports from Senegal Dakar.

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