The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control just put a target on the back of a mineral smuggling pipeline stretching from the conflict-ravaged mines of eastern Congo to Hong Kong trading desks. The designations, announced on August 12, 2025, hit an armed group, a mining cooperative, and two corporate intermediaries that collectively turned forced labor and civil war into a supply chain.
The sanctioned entities include the armed group Coalition des Patriotes Résistants Congolais, Force de Frappe (PARECO-FF), the Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), and two Hong Kong-based firms: East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited. Together, they form the infrastructure of an illegal mining and smuggling operation centered on Rubaya, a region in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that produces a significant share of the world’s coltan supply.
What Rubaya’s coltan means for global supply chains
Coltan is the mineral that gets refined into tantalum, a metal critical for capacitors found in smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, and the hardware that powers crypto mining rigs and data centers.
PARECO-FF emerged in 2022 as an armed response to the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement, commonly known as M23. The group controlled significant mining sites in and around Rubaya until M23 seized control of the area in April 2024, continuing a grim pattern of human rights abuses in eastern DRC.
