Image

The US does not produce coltan domestically and relies on imports of the strategic mineral, critical for electronics, jet engines, missiles and other defense weapons systems used by the military.¹ In the DRC, coltan (the raw material for tantalum) is mostly extracted by artisanal miners and has been for years smuggled into Rwanda and fraudulently exported as if produced there. While Rwanda officially mines tin, tantalum, and tungsten (known as 3T minerals), the UN Group of Experts and Global Witness have documented how it falsifies its domestic production data to cover up the inclusion of laundered Congolese minerals within its exports, the vast majority of which are smuggled from the DRC.²

Data from US Geological Survey (USGS) reveals the troubling involvement of the US in this laundering scheme.³ As shown in Figures 2 and 3, there was a very significant surge in US imports of tantalum ores and concentrates from Rwanda after 2013. Rwanda’s overall tantalum exports to the US extraordinarily increased 15-fold between 2013 and 2018, at the same time that the US administration waived its own sanction mechanism against Rwanda.

Whereas the vast majority of Rwanda’s exports of tantalum⁴ were smuggled minerals from DRC, the comparison of the level of exports to the US from the two countries is striking. Between 2013 and 2022, Rwanda shipped to the US over 2,000 tons of tantalum worth over US$135 million – more than double the DRC’s exports over the same period – 878 tons, worth US$53.6 million. Through its looting of eastern DRC, Rwanda became a major supplier of the mineral to the US – at its peak supplying over half of all tantalum imported to the US.

Figure 2. Amounts of tantalum ore and concentrate exports from the DRC and Rwanda to the US (kgs)

Image

Figure 3. Percentage of US imports of tantalum ores and concentrates from the DRC and Rwanda

Image

Source: Mineral yearbooks: Niobium and Tantalum - National Minerals Information Center (USGS) 

Interestingly, USGS’ data suggests a shift of sourcing of US imports from 2020, with an increased share of imports from the DRC and decrease of imports from Rwanda. From 54 percent of US imports in 2018, the share of Rwanda as a supplier of tantalum dropped to zero in 2020 and to only three percent in 2021. In just three years, Rwanda’s role as a key US supplier of tantalum was essentially erased. US tantalum imports from DRC appear to have also stopped since 2023. Washington has come to rely increasingly on imports from other countries, primarily Australia, as an alternative of imports from the two countries.⁵

Given the history of US mining interests in the region, it is troubling that this recent evolution coincides with M23’s reemergence in 2021, with Rwanda’s proxy militia specifically targeting major coltan mines in eastern DRC during the following years (see Box).

M23 & Rwanda’s Conquest of the Rubaya Coltan Mines

Image

In April 2024, M23 took control of the Rubaya coltan mines in southern Masisi territory to exploit one of the world’s largest coltan deposits. The mines generate substantial income for the group and help sustain its military operations. In a December 2024 report, the UN Group of Experts documented how M23 ensured a monopoly on the export of coltan from Rubaya to Rwanda to collect an estimated US$800,000 monthly from the taxation of coltan production and trade.⁶ An “unprecedented boost” in smuggled coltan has since been reported, with M23 fraudulently exporting at least 150 metric tons of coltan to Rwanda in 2024 and up to 120 metric tons per month in 2025.⁷ According to the Rwandan government, coltan exports increased by 42 percent in the third quarter of 2024.⁸

Trump made clear that the US-brokered “peace” process is intended to serve US mining interests.⁹ Coltan is a high prize for some of them, notably America First Global, led by close Trump associate Gentry Beach who is vying for rights to the Rubaya mine and intends to bring back Congolese coltan as a major US import, but through a scheme in which tantalum ores will be processed in Rwanda.¹⁰