Apple on the Way to Conflict-Mineral-Free Devices

[Maura]

Re/code reports today that a filing by Apple with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that the company is making some progress in its intention to rid its devices of conflict minerals.

Conflict minerals are those that have been pulled from mines where the profits are siphoned off to warlords in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The profits are then used to fund groups that are associated with crimes such as murder and rape.

Companies must send an annual report to the Commission about their use of conflict minerals, such as tungsten, tin, tantalum, and gold, that have been mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As far as Apple is concerned, it is not yet able to say that all its products are conflict-free, because not all of its suppliers have been verified via its audit process, although 88% have, which is more than double last year’s number.

“The simplest path to calling Apple products conflict-free would be to redirect our demand through a small subset of smelters that are either conflict-free verified, or aren’t sourcing from Central Africa,” said Apple’s senior vice-president of Operations. “But this approach would do little to influence the situation on the ground.”

Apple is a member of the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative, which is a voluntary group that uses independent third-party auditors to audit smelters.

Source: Apple Reports Progress in Eliminating Conflict Minerals Re code