PHOTO ESSAY: Congo coltan miners dig for world's tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge

RUBAYA, Congo (AP) — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo, at the artisanal Rubaya mining site, hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial for producing modern electronics and defense technology.

Rubaya lies in the heart of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich part of the Central African nation which for decades has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and various armed groups.

As the U.S. spearheads peace talks between Congo and Rwanda, Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has sought out a deal with the Trump administration, offering mineral access in return for American support in quelling the insurgency and boosting security.

Bahati Moïse, a trader who resells coltan from Rubaya’s mines, hopes that, regardless who controls the mines, the workers who labor to extract the minerals will finally be valued as much as the resources themselves.

“The whole country, the whole world knows that phones are made from the coltan mined here, but look at the life we ​​live,” he said. “We can’t continue like this.”

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

Text from AP News story: “Congo’s coltan miners dig for world’s tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge,” by David Yusufu Kibingila and Monika Pronczuk

Photos by Moses Sawasawa

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

People walk through the town near the coltan mining quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Two women stand together in the town near the coltan mining quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People walk through the town near the coltan mining quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A miner rests at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A miner works at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A miner works at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A miner works at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Women prepare food for miners at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A mine worker holds bits of coltan ore in the mining town of Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Motorcyclists ride through thick mud on their way to the mining town of Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Motorcyclists ride through thick mud on their way to the mining town of Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Miners work at the D4 Gakombe coltan quarry in Rubaya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday closed out the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year by denouncing today's consumerist and anti-foreigner sentiment, capping a Jubilee that saw some 33 million pilgrims flock to Rome and a historic transition from one American pontiff to another.

With cardinals and diplomats looking on, Leo kneeled down in prayer on the stone floor at the threshold of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. He then stood up and pulled the two doors shut, symbolically completing the rarest of Jubilees: one that was opened by a feeble Pope Francis in December 2024, continued during his funeral and the conclave, and then was closed by Francis' successor a year later.

Only once before, in 1700, has a Holy Year been opened by one pope and closed by another.

Tuesday's ceremony, at the start of Mass celebrating the feast of Epiphany, capped a dizzying year of special audiences, Masses and meetings that dominated Leo’s first months as pontiff and in many ways put his own agenda on hold.

As if to signal his pontificate now can begin in earnest, Leo has summoned the world’s cardinals to the Vatican for two days of meetings starting Wednesday to discuss governing the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. On the agenda is the issue of the liturgy, suggesting Leo is diving head-first into the divisions within the church over the celebration of the old Latin Mass.

In his homily Tuesday, Leo said the Jubilee year had invited all Christians to reflect on the Biblical teachings to welcome the stranger and resist “the flattery and seduction of those in power.”

“Around us, a distorted economy tries to profit from everything,” he said. “Let us ask ourselves: has the Jubilee taught us to flee from this type of efficiency that reduces everything to a product and human beings to consumers? After this year, will we be better able to recognize a pilgrim in the visitor, a seeker in the stranger, a neighbor in the foreigner, and fellow travelers in those who are different?”

For the Vatican, a Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome every 25 years to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and receive indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins if they pass through the Holy Door.

For Rome, it’s a chance to take advantage of public funds, in this case some 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion), to carry out long-delayed projects to lift the city out of years of neglect and bring it up to modern, European standards.

The Vatican on Monday claimed 33,475,369 pilgrims had participated in the Jubilee, though organizer Archbishop Rino Fisichella acknowledged the number was only a rough estimate and could include double counting. At a press conference, neither he nor Italian officials provided a breakdown between Holy Year pilgrims and Rome’s overall tourist figures for the same period.

Rome’s relationship with Jubilees dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII inaugurated the first Holy Year in what historians say marked the definitive designation of Rome as the center of Christianity. Even then, the number of pilgrims was so significant that Dante referred to them in his “Inferno.”

Massive public works projects have long accompanied Holy Years, including the creation of the Sistine Chapel (commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for the Jubilee of 1475) and the big Vatican garage (for the 2000 Jubilee under St. John Paul II).

Some works have been controversial, such as the construction of Via della Conciliazione, the broad boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square. An entire neighborhood was razed to make it for the 1950 Jubilee.

The main public works project for the 2025 Jubilee was an extension of that boulevard: A pedestrian piazza along the Tiber linking Via della Conciliazione to the nearby Castel St. Angelo, with the major road that had separated them diverted to an underground tunnel.

Leo has already announced that the next Jubilee will be in 2033, to commemorate what Christians believe was the A.D. 33 death and resurrection of Christ.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

FILE - Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica to mark the start of the Catholic Jubilee Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. (Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP, file)

Members of the clergy arrive ahead of Pope Leo XIV for the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Members of the clergy arrive ahead of Pope Leo XIV for the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV closes St. Peter's Basilica Holy Door to end the 2025 ordinary Jubilee year, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Pool photo via AP)