'Who buys Rwanda's smuggled coltan? The global journey of conflict coltan from DRC to the world's electronics' - Global Witness, 10 June 2026

"A year-long investigation by Global Witness finds that conflict coltan smuggled from war-torn DRC is finding its way into global markets and popular consumer products, despite existing due diligence systems. The Rubaya mines in North Kivu, which produce around 15% of the world's tantalum, have been under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group since April 2024, turning them into a major source of financing for the group's brutal warfare in DRC." "Global Witness found that traders pay 'taxes' on coltan including US$4 per kilo to M23 and US$3 per kilo to the Rwandan government, generating an estimated US$800,000 per month for M23 since May 2024 according to a UN estimate."

"Once in Rwanda, conflict coltan is laundered through the ITSCI traceability scheme, which assigns tags certifying minerals as conflict-free. 'The [exporting] company in Kigali comes and puts the tags on the coltan from Masisi and thus it becomes Rwandan coltan,' one coltan smuggler told Global Witness." "The investigation also found that the Responsible Minerals Initiative's audits - which all eight smelters processing Rwandan coltan passed - failed to detect conflict links in supply chains, despite well-documented risks already being publicly known."

"Global Witness found that conflict coltan may have reached global brands including Microsoft, Vodafone, Sony, Amazon, Nvidia, LG Display, Ericsson, Toyota and Apple." Toyota stated it "does not tolerate human rights abuses and aims to procure conflict-free minerals." Apple said it had notified suppliers that their smelters must suspend purchases from DRC and Rwanda, stating it was concerned that "industry certification mechanisms could no longer perform the required due diligence." "Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Vodafone, Panasonic and LG Display did not reply to Global Witness's requests for comment."