A year-long investigation by Global Witness reveals how conflict coltan from the DRC is smuggled into Rwanda, where it is 'laundered' through the ITSCI traceability scheme to enter the global market. The strategic Rubaya mines have been controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group since April 2024, generating roughly $800,000 per month for the group through illegal taxes. Despite successful audits passed by local smelters, oversight mechanisms failed to detect these conflict links, potentially allowing this coltan to feed into the supply chains of tech and automotive giants. Global Witness’s report found that at least five of these seven companies buy conflict coltan from DRC, selling it on through middlemen to smelters in China and Kazakhstan. In the smelters, the coltan is processed into tantalum. From there, it is used to manufacture the capacitors that are essential components in electronic devices. The report also found that conflict coltan may have unwittingly found its way to global brands including Microsoft, Vodafone, Sony, Amazon, Nvidia, LG Display, Ericsson, Toyota and Apple – and into products we use every day. The Business and Human Right Centre wrote to all the companies mentioned in Globa Witness’s report which had not responded directly to Global Witness. This story includes the responses and non-responses from those companies.