With a year to go until the first disclosure reports on the use of “conflict minerals” are due on May 31, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued fresh guidance.
In August 2012, the Commission issued a final rule specifying how companies must report the use of certain minerals—including tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold—mined in the war-torn Congo region of Africa and often used to fund violent militia groups. The rule, a mandate of the Dodd-Frank Act, requires companies to determine and disclose the source country of those minerals. A Reasonable County of Origin Inquiry is required, with disclosure of this assessment ddetailed in the SEC’s new Form SD. If designated minerals do, or might, come from covered countries, additional due diligence into the source and chain of custody of those minerals is demanded, along with an audit of that assessment.
