(Reuters) -The Congolese mining company sanctioned by the United States this week has said it “categorically rejects” allegations linking it to armed groups and mineral smuggling in turbulent eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against the Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC) over what it called the illicit sale of critical minerals smuggled from the mineral-rich region of Rubaya.
The U.S. also sanctioned the Coalition des Patriotes Resistants Congolais-Forces de Frappe (PARECO-FF) – an armed group aligned with Congo’s military which Washington said controlled mining sites in Rubaya from 2022 to 2024 – and two Hong Kong-based exporters.
CDMC said control of its sites by armed groups meant the company could not operate legally.
“We are not the perpetrators – but the primary victims — of the armed conflict and pillage that have destabilized this region,” CDMC said in a statement received by Reuters late on Wednesday.
“The presence and taxation of mining activity by armed groups such as PARECO-FF and, more recently, the M23 rebels have prevented CDMC from exercising lawful control over its concession,” it said.
The sanctions are the latest measures taken by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to try to bring peace to eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels staged a lightning advance earlier this year, spurring violence that has killed thousands of people.
Rubaya, controlled by the M23 rebel group since April 2024, produces 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into a heat-resistant metal called tantalum used in mobile phones and other electronics and prized by the aerospace and medical industries among others.
(Reporting by David Lewis and Congo newsroom; Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
