the Conict Free Smelters assessment programme, where smelters voluntarily submit to an independent audit to provide assurance that

they are not using minerals that contribute to conict. Pinpointing the smelters as an area for action made sense, says ITIs Goss. The smelters are the logical bottleneck in the supply chain. There are estimated only 15-20 global smelters that process 85 per cent of global tantalum. You have tens of thousands of artisanal miners in the DRC and at the other end, you have thousands of end-users. You look at the 15 to 20 smelters and thats the point where you can x audit and verication procedures. As a result of companies such as the chip and processor manufacturer Intel working with organisations such as the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, there is a list of conict-free smelters (see www. conictfreesmelters.org). In addition to the audit, smelters agree to implement the OECD guidelines and assure that the smelter and suppliers provide supporting documentation around traceability. Another collaborative scheme looking to tackle to problem is the Solutions for Hope project, established by Motorola Solutions and capacitor manufacturer AVX. The aim was to establish a closedpipe supply chain for tantalum with a secure chain of custody to prove the sourcing process does not fund conict. This tightly controlled supply line will ensure conflict-free tantalum for these capacitors and allow time for a muchneeded conict-free verication system to develop in the DRC, said Rich Valin, CPO at Motorola Solutions, launching the project last July. According to Bill Millman, technical and quality director at AVXs tantalum division: A closed-pipe is essentially to reduce the number of people who would be involved in the financial and physical transfer of getting minerals from a selected site to the end consumer. Under the traditional comptoir model, ngociants visit individual mines sites paying cash on an informal bag-by-bag basis, with no taxes or documentation. These are then sold to a comptoir who,
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once enough for a full container is collected, would sell to an international trade who then sell to a smelter. The traceability is just a mess, says Millman. We decided with the closed-pipe we would choose selected mine sites buying directly from legal, permitted concession owners, deliver that material to a validated conict free smelter and from that material make capacitors and sell those directly to the end-customer, he adds. So we had to move to a very regulated, transparent and pre-nominated number of players. It was also agreed that a world market price would be paid for the minerals, so it would not appear that the project was simply about securing a low-cost supply. In March, AVX expected to deliver its rst conict-free tantalum capacitors to Motorola Solutions. This has been a lengthy, difficult, complex, expensive operation and we are only talking about relatively small amounts of material. The pilot only represents 2 per cent of AVXs total consumption, Millman says. He says three questions had to be answered to assess the schemes feasibility: Is it secure? Is it sustainable? And is it scale-able? The pilot appears to have proved the security, and support from the sector Nokia signed up to participate in February will make it sustainable. The challenge is no to see if the scheme can be replicated for other metals. The US state department has also established the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade, which brings together companies and industry representatives to tackle the problem from a supply chain point-of-view. It is investing $3.2 million, and aims to raise a further $2 million from industry, to support pilot schemes and audits. While any progress in this area is to be welcomed, could the multitude of initiatives currently underway even though widespread collaboration is in evidence dilute their impact? I understand the frustration there are a series of disparate initiatives occurring right now and it would be benecial to everyone if there was a single internationally agreed-upon standard for compliance for ethical sourcing for the region, says

FURTHER READING
Do No Harm: A guide for companies by Global Witness tinyurl.com/cpodonoharm OECD Due Diligence

Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conict-Aected and High-Risk Areas by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tinyurl.com/ cpooecdguidance
Conict minerals

and the DRC by BSR tinyurl.com/cpobsrreport

Conict Minerals Provision of Dodd-Frank by KPMG tinyurl.com/cpokpmgdf Conict minerals: DoddFrank Section 1502 and proposed SEC rule by Ernst & Young tinyurl.com/cpoeydf

Hall, citing the Kimberley Process to prevent conict diamonds as an example. But he believes the passage of Dodd-Frank could be the stepping-stone to such an agreement, if the US government takes a leadership role.

Paul Snell is deputy managing editor at CPO Agendas sister magazine Supply Management (paul.snell@ supplymanagement.com)

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