AT least 33 people were killed last week when a small coltan mine collapsed in eastern DRC, local rebel officials said on Tuesday. Coltan is a mineral used in electronics and especially in the manufacture of mobile phones. ”The mine collapsed at a busy time, burying tens of diggers and traders who, as usual, had come to supply the miners,” said one survivor. The mine is located about 60 kilometers southwest of Goma, a town on the Rwandan border where the Kigali-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy has its headquarters. The precise number of dead is not expected to be known until the rubble is cleared, which could take another week. In late 1999, an accident at the same mine killed 13 people according to official figures, although local residents put the death toll at about 60. – Sapa-AFP