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Sleek mobile phones, powerful computers and smart gadgets are embedded with circuitry that in many cases includes minerals and substances extracted from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A region impacted by armed conflict and a lengthy list of human rights abuses, DRC is a source of the tin, tantalum, gold and cobalt used to manufacture electronics.
“Toxic substances such as mercury are used to excavate the minerals. Workers come in contact with the substances without any protective equipment and soil and water are also polluted as a result,” TCO Certified says. “These mostly small-scale, artisanal mines are largely located in remote areas with little infrastructure and where access to healthcare is limited.”
U.S. importers of raw materials have been required to disclose their sources for potential conflict minerals under the Dodd-Frank Act since 2010, according to Statista. A similar regulation has been in effect in the European Union since Jan. 1, 2021, aimed at curbing the financing of violent militias, particularly in the DRC and surrounding countries, where said groups control the mining of tin and coltan.
Driving the Conflict Minerals Out
Aware of the implications of using conflict minerals in the products that they make and sell, big tech companies are working to infuse more transparency, accountability and ethical sourcing into their global supply chains. At the same time, businesses and individual consumers are making more informed choices and supporting suppliers that are committed to ethical practices.
In certain cases, it seems, getting conflict minerals out of the big tech supply chain has been easier said than done. According to Statista, which analyzed and reported on Amazon’s 2023 conflict minerals report, the large e-tailer cannot rule out having sourced minerals from nine of 10 African countries where human rights-violating militias finance themselves through mining.
These countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. “The other four members of GAMAM (Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Microsoft), a group synonymous with the moniker Big Tech, also potentially source some of the raw materials processed in contracted smelters from these regions,” Statista points out.
Striking a Balance
Amazon’s report also states that the majority of its suppliers certified that they did not use gold, tin, tungsten or tantalum in parts or components for the company’s in-scope products; did not source these minerals from the DRC or an adjoining country; or that they sourced these minerals from a smelter or refiner that complies with a responsible mineral sourcing validation program such as the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process.
“The remaining suppliers are still completing investigations of their supply chains,” Amazon stated in its report. “For 2023, we identified no suppliers that were sourcing minerals through a supply chain that benefitted armed groups in the DRC region.”
Statista also dissected Microsoft’s most recent conflict minerals report and says the company relies on "responsible sourcing" rather than restricting or avoiding the usage of the conflict minerals tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold, known as 3TG, from these regions. “Stopping operations in Covered Countries and Conflict Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRAs),” the company points out, “would allegedly cause significant economic harm to the affected countries.”
