The incident occurred at the Kalandu mine within the Mulondo quarry, which is officially managed by Bajiklem, about 42 kilometers southeast of Kolwezi, the capital of Lualaba Province, according to local authorities.
Khaberni - At least 32 workers perished on Saturday, following a collapse at a cobalt mining site in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where search and rescue operations continue.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces more than 70% of the world's cobalt, a crucial metal in the battery industry used in electronic devices and electric vehicles.
Most of the cobalt in the country is mined in large industrial mines, but estimates suggest that more than 200,000 people work as diggers in unlicensed sites.
The regional Minister of the Interior, Roy Kaumba Mayondi, said: "Despite the official ban on accessing the site due to heavy rain and the risk of landslides, illegal diggers stormed the quarry."
The official added that "the hasty crossing of the diggers" caused the collapse of a primitive bridge they had built to cross a waterlogged ditch that borders the site.
He added: "32 bodies were recovered," pointing out that the search operations "continue."
