{"id":13174,"date":"2025-10-21T12:37:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/m23-rebels-loot-70-million-worth-of-gold-from-drc-mine-since-may\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:26:14","slug":"m23-rebels-loot-70-million-worth-of-gold-from-drc-mine-since-may","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/m23-rebels-loot-70-million-worth-of-gold-from-drc-mine-since-may\/","title":{"rendered":"M23 rebels loot $70 million worth of gold from DRC mine since May"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining’s gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have looted at least 500 kilograms of bullion since May, the company told Reuters<\/em>, accusing some of its own employees of aiding the theft.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At current prices, the looted gold is worth around $70 million.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mine is located in South Kivu province, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels staged a lightning offensive this year that allowed them to seize more territory than ever before. They seized the mine in May.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“With the help of some employees, they transported the first batch of more than 50 kg of gold out in a very short time,” Twangiza Mining said on Monday in a written response to Reuters’<\/em> queries about losses since M23 seized the mine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Since the occupation, they have obtained at least 500kg of gold and secretly transported it through underground channels,” the company said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M23 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Twangiza Mining, which is headquartered in DRC and describes itself as a Chinese firm, said it lost over 100 kg of gold a month since the takeover, in addition to $5 million worth of equipment and materials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The company is preparing to file a formal complaint with international arbitration and Congolese authorities and has declared force majeure, it said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It accused the rebels of expelling residents, demolishing churches and using Rwandan technicians to extract geological data to resume and expand mining.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“There are more than 150 workers left on site. We cannot get in touch with them,” the company said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rwandan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A drone strike on October 15 destroyed power generation infrastructure at the mine. It is not clear who was responsible for the drone strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fighting in eastern DRC has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands this year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Armed groups have seized several mining sites in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, according to United Nations (UN) investigators.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A UN Security Council briefing last year said M23 rebels were earning around $300 000 monthly from mineral taxes in the coltan-rich Rubaya region.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

United States President Donald Trump brokered a peace deal between DRC and Rwanda in June as part of an effort to stabilise eastern DRC and bring in Western mining investments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rwanda has consistently denied backing M23 rebels, despite repeated allegations from UN experts and regional governments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Qatar has been hosting direct talks between DRC and M23.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The two sides missed an August deadline for a peace deal as part of that process but on October 14, they agreed to a monitoring mechanism for an eventual ceasefire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–Reuters–<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13175,"template":"default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-13174","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining's gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have looted at least 500 kilograms of bullion since May||Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining's gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have looted at least 500 kilograms of bullion since May","published_date":"2025-10-21 14:37:11||2025-10-21 14:37:11","news_description":"Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining's gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have looted at least 500 kilograms of bullion since May||Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining's gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have looted at least 500 kilograms of bullion since May","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18419,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/13174\/revisions\/18419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=13174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}