Two electronics industry organisations – the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) – have launched their Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program, as part of industry’s efforts in response to the conflict minerals provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 passed earlier this year. The minerals covered in the law — coltan (columbite-tantalite, a source of tantalum), cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten) and gold — are used in various industrial, consumer and electronics products and the CFS program focuses on tantalum and tin.
In a statement GeSI and EICC noted that “The CFS program aims to identify smelters that can demonstrate through an independent third-party assessment that the raw materials they procured did not originate from sources that contribute to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The launch of the CFS program is the culmination of a multi-stakeholder project that started in September 2009. This due diligence enables mineral buyers and those further downstream in the supply chain to better understand the origin of the materials in their supply chain. The result of this assessment may also be utilized by companies as a part of their compliance obligations for the anticipated regulations stemming from the conflict minerals section of Dodd-Frank.”
A first tantalum smelter assessment has been completed and additional tantalum smelters are scheduled to be assessed under the CFS in early 2011. The CFS is slated to expand to assess smelters of tin, tungsten and gold throughout 2011. An initial list of tantalum smelters who passed the assessment is due to be published on the EICC and GeSI Web sites in the first quarter of 2011.
