New Senate Bill Would Require Origin Disclosure for “Conflict Minerals”

(World Trade Interactive)

Legislation introduced April 24 in the Senate would require U.S.-registered companies selling products using columbite-tantalite, cassiterite or wolframite (or derivatives thereof) to annually disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission the country of origin of those minerals. Metals derived from these minerals are used in common technological products such as mobile phones, laptops and digital cameras.

According to a joint press release from sponsors Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis., the Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in lucrative natural resources such as cassiterite (tin), columbite-tantalite or coltan (tantalum), wolframite (tungsten) and gold. These metals can be “inhumanely mined,” the press release states, and profits from selling them are often used to finance armed groups in the region, which has been “devastated by civil war, widespread human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 5.4 million people.” Read more here.