"Conflict-Free Mineral Exports on the Rise -Enough Project", 23 Feb 2016

Companies are buying fewer minerals connected to militia groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the Enough Project, a human rights group. Enough found that armed groups control less of the trade in tin, tungsten and tantalum in the DRC than they did five or 10 years ago. That means more of the metals…can be considered conflict free…The group credited the Dodd-Frank financial reform…which included a provision requiring…companies to disclose whether any products containing the three metals plus gold were connected to militia groups…The requirement led to tighter regulation…[T]he push towards eliminating the controversial minerals has been led by the tech industry, including…Intel Corp. and Apple Inc., which have sent delegations to Africa and audited their supply chains…Enough found that extortion and illegal taxation of gold continues to fund the Congolese Army, and noted in its report that miners have yet to develop a system to certify conflict-free gold…