{"id":4647,"date":"2026-01-21T20:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/blood-in-the-earth-life-and-death-in-congos-coltan-mines-bbc-africa-eye-documentary\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:43:09","slug":"blood-in-the-earth-life-and-death-in-congos-coltan-mines-bbc-africa-eye-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/blood-in-the-earth-life-and-death-in-congos-coltan-mines-bbc-africa-eye-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood in the Earth: Life and Death in Congo&#8217;s Coltan Mines &#8211; BBC Africa Eye Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jpIcC1_5JAk?autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a miner digs for his dreams hoping the \u201cgrey gold\u201d of coltan, used in much of today\u2019s electronics, can bring his family back together.<\/p>\n<p>Click here to subscribe to our channel \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffd http:\/\/bit.ly\/subscribetoafrica<\/p>\n<p>In a village nestled in the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo, everyone is looking for an answer to their problems. A teacher hopes to find it in educating his pupils for a better life, a policeman hopes to find it in establishing order, and a miner hopes to find it in coltan, an essential element used in manufacturing electronics.<\/p>\n<p>The mineral is both a blessing and a curse to the locals. It may have brought wealth to some, but it has also brought a decades long war between numerous local groups backed by international players.<\/p>\n<p>For many miners their dreams remain frustratingly underground, seemingly just out of reach.<\/p>\n<p>But for one miner can this \u201cgrey gold\u201d now bring his family back together?<\/p>\n<p>00:00 Introduction: Congo&#8217;s Coltan Mines<br \/>\n01:25 The Miner\u2019s Story<br \/>\n06:45 The Arrest<br \/>\n12:00 A Child Miner<br \/>\n15:45 Money Struggles<br \/>\n24:14 Tension in the village<br \/>\n27:06 New Arrivals<br \/>\n29:40 Getting the Best Price<br \/>\n30:59 A Family Apart<br \/>\n42:16 The Discovery<br \/>\n46:20 The Mine Collapses<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfa5 Watch this film in SWAHILI here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-ckCFYlFDBQ<br \/>\nand in FRENCH here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7TPgYfm7bss <\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f You may also be interested in watching these documentaries:<\/p>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_52162\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-vQvFRDCa2g?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=1&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_41147\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OboT09uRw6M?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=1&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_32147\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ajX6NaVks3w?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=1&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>\ud83c\udf9e\ufe0f Check out all Africa Eye investigations here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLajyiGz4JeyO2qgCvioQO-BzP1XCajJqt<\/p>\n<p>Watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning #BBCEye investigations team at this documentary playlist: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4fa8LK1lptsvoA_spfJhzda<\/p>\n<p>***<br \/>\nSubscribe: http:\/\/bit.ly\/subscribetoafrica<br \/>\nWebsite: https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/africa<br \/>\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbcnewsafrica\/<br \/>\nTwitter: https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/bbcafrica\/<br \/>\nInstagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcafrica\/<\/p>\n<p>#DRC #BBCEye #Documentaries #Documentary #Mining #Congo #Coltan #Minerals #BBCAfrica<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jpIcC1_5JAk\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a miner digs for his dreams hoping the \u201cgrey gold\u201d of coltan, used in much of today\u2019s electronics, can bring his family back together. Click here to subscribe to our channel \ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffd http:\/\/bit.ly\/subscribetoafrica In a village nestled in the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo, everyone is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3934168192,"featured_media":4648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[434,6220,1318,9373,15,1317,1320,9352,9351,169,8660,9370,9354,9364,9363,9365,9369,9361,9372,9350,3335,9353,9368,9359,9358,9356,9355,9366,9367,266,260,9360,9357,1212,9374,9362,9371,1337],"class_list":["post-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie","tag-africa","tag-africa-documentary","tag-africa-news","tag-bandits","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-africa","tag-bbc-africa-eye","tag-bbc-congo","tag-bbc-drc","tag-bbc-news","tag-child-labor","tag-cobalt","tag-coltan","tag-coltan-mining","tag-coltan-mining-in-drc","tag-coltan-mining-in-the-congo","tag-congo-doc","tag-congo-minerals","tag-congo-minerals-documentary","tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","tag-drc","tag-drc-congo","tag-drc-doc","tag-drc-mines","tag-ethical-mining","tag-grey-gold","tag-m23","tag-mine-coltan-congo","tag-mineral-coltan","tag-miners","tag-mining","tag-of-mud-and-blood","tag-ore","tag-rwanda","tag-tribalism","tag-tutsi","tag-uranium","tag-zama-zama","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3934168192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4649,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions\/4649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/reel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}