New Regulations Seek to Expose Congo Conflict Minerals

LOS ANGELES (LA TIMES) - New U.S. regulations will require publicly traded companies that use minerals including tin, tungsten, and gold to disclose if the minerals they purchase to make goods, helped the bankroll conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or neighboring countries.  The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted these regulations last month effective November. 

Mining locations in the DRC.

Activists focused on the conflict in eastern Congo argue that this new law will urge corporations to stop by "naming and shaming" these companies that buy minerals to profit armed groups.  After the law was passed, Congo President Joseph Kabila halted all mining the country's eastern provinces for six months, intending to break up the mafia that control the trade.  Others fear that these measures will crimp legitimate trade because other countries aren't applying the same pressure as the U.S.  Companies are not banned from using conflict minerals, they only have to say that they use them.   Source:  New Regulations Seek to Expose Congo Conflict Minerals (Reliability: High)

Comments:  The SEC only recently adopted these regulations.  Two years ago Congress passed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill.  Part of this bill required publicly traded companies to say if they use minerals from the region.