Four minerals – tantalum (coltan), cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten), and gold – are used in nearly every small electronic device we depend on today. Most of these minerals are mined in eastern Congo and their trade helps fund deadly regional conflict. While there has been plenty of international media coverage in the past 20 years about “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds”, these “conflict minerals” seem to have flown under the radar.
This June, however, the internet media seemed to be swarming with coverage on “conflict minerals”. It was June 26th that Nick Kristof’s Op-Ed started making waves. Kristof reported on a new grassroots organization that recruited Hollywood actors to put together a
clever video satirizing the famous “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” ads by Apple. The video suggests that both Macs and PCs are knowingly using minerals mined in the Congo that are “fueling the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.”
Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Condo has been entrenched in a terribly bloody conflict. According to statistics, over 5.4 million have been killed as of April 2007, with 45,000 people dying each month since. Rape is frequently used as a terrorist military tactic making Congo well known to activists as “the rape capital of the world”, to use Kristof’s words.
While electronic companies that use tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold in their products have been required to file a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they do not source their minerals from eastern Congo, there really hasn’t been any way for the government to verify this.
With the help of the New York Times and a handful of bloggers, the video made a huge splash. One of New York Times readers, and a loyal Apple user, sent an e-mail to Steve Jobs asking about his conflict mineral policies and efforts. Jobs actually responded quickly, writing in a short e-mail that Apple “requires all of [their] suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.”
But, this response was not enough for the public which was quickly growing restless in outrage. Most activists have been pushing a rigorous auditing system at the metal smelters to determine the source of the raw material.
On June 15th, US congress agreed with the public, passing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, otherwise known as the Financial Reform Act. This bill includes specific terms requiring companies that use tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold in their products not only to sign a statement about their mineral sources, but also to audit these reports and provide proof. This legislation, once President Obama signs, will be a major step in the war against “conflict minerals”.
