In recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards trying to quantify the supply risks and the (economic) impact of supply disruptions of certain materials due to the political instability of raw material producing countries.
This has led to the use of indicators, such as the Human Development Index and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators . In 2010 the Dodd –Frank act was published.
Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act, 2010) requires publicly-traded companies in the U.S. to disclose whether they manufacture products containing conflict minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or its adjoining countries. This is due to the potential proceeds from the mining of these minerals and associated metals (gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten) to be used to finance armed militias that are engaged in human rights atrocities in those countries (UN; 2008, 2011).
The most commonly mined conflict minerals are cassiterite (for tin), wolframite (for tungsten), coltan (for tantalite), and gold ore, which are extracted from the Eastern Congo, and passed through a variety of intermediaries before being purchased by multinational electronics companies. These minerals are essential in the manufacture of a variety of devices, including consumer electronics such as mobile phones, laptops, and MP3 players
Giraffe can assist companies with tracing materials to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act.