Companies ‘disregard responsibility’ over conflict minerals: Report

An analysis of 215 companies’ mineral supply chains has found many have fallen short of their obligations under the Conflict Minerals Rule, also known as Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, regarding their sourcing from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a report published this month by the Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), the group analysed corporate compliance under the legislation, passed by the Obama administration in 2010, which requires public companies in the United States to disclose the use of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) in their products and determine if they have been sourced ethically.

The analysis showed an average company score of less than 40%, on par with last year. The report also ranked 27 companies on efforts to address child labor and other rights abuses in their cobalt supply chains, with firms scoring 26.4%. The worst performing industries remained integrated oil and gas, steel and business services. Read Full Article - Mongabay, October 23, 2019