address this issue. Apple...has already made a public commitment to include cobalt in its conflict mineral program to further promote responsible sourcing practices among its suppliers...As cobalt supply chains come under more scrutiny, it’s important for companies to understand what the risks are and how they relate to the unique structure of the sector in the DRC...The informality in the ASM [artisanal and small-scale mining ] sector, coupled with extreme poverty, leads to frequent instances of the worst forms of child labour. Based on RCS Global observations in Katanga, in 2016, physically capable children, usually between the ages of 15 to 17, work as miners, washers, transporters, and sorters. Underage sex workers (15-17) can also be observed on important ASM sites...Corruption by state institutions takes the form of illegal taxation of ASM miners and transporters, local traders,and LSM [large-scale mining] operators/exporters...On many ASM cobalt mine sites observed, workingconditions are life-threatening...Consequently, while sourcing through the LSM model presents less immediate risks, it is not risk free. Even so, reverting purely to sourcing from the largest industrial mines would itself have a profoundly negative knock-on effect to the local economy. Abandoning the ASM sector would result in a direct, dramatic and altogether undesirable livelihood impact for hundreds of thousands of ASM sector stakeholders and their families. In other words, reverting to sole sourcing from LSM cannot be called responsible sourcing.