NEWS RELEASE: Revealed: Why Dubai’s first conflict gold audit never saw the light of day

http://www.globalwitness.org/

Download the Global Witness report City of Gold here: http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/dubai_gold_layout_lr.pdf

25th February 2014 – According to a former partner at Ernst & Young, the global accountancy firm turned a blind eye when a report of major audit failures at Dubai’s biggest gold refinery went unpublished. A Global Witness report released today, City of Gold, considers the implications.

Documents seen by Global Witness suggest that the local metals regulator, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), changed its audit guidelines after becoming aware of negative findings in Ernst & Young’s report, with the effect that damaging results were not released.

Dubai is a key market – trading more than 20% of the world’s gold, worth $70 billion in 2012 – and Global Witness research indicates that it’s the main destination for Congolese conflict gold.

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European Union seeks to stem use of conflict minerals – by Francesco Guarascio (Reuters U.S. – February 5, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

BRUSSELS, Feb 5 (Reuters) – The EU’s trade chief will present a voluntary scheme in March aimed at stemming the import of minerals from conflict zones and prevent mining them from financing war and strife, EU officials said on Wednesday.

Karel De Gucht’s proposal to the European Commission, the EU executive, will encompass gold, tungsten, tantalum and tin, in a bid to pressure importers to classify them as coming from areas free of conflict.

“Work is currently underway to prepare a proposal … for a comprehensive EU framework on responsible mineral sourcing in line with international guidelines,” said EU Trade spokesman John Clancy.

The United States defines the conflict mineral zone as the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries including Angola and South Sudan. They make up 17 percent of the global production of tantalum, 4 percent of the global production of tin, 3 percent of tungsten and 2 percent of gold.

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Andrew Forrest takes fight to Nintendo – by John Daffe (Herald Sun – February 4, 2014)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/

IT’S the battle that pits one of Australia’s richest men against one of the world’s biggest video game makers. And it’s game on.

Mining billionaire and philanthropist Andrew Forrest has set his sights on Nintendo, hoping to force the Japanese giant to beef up measures ensuring its products contain no “conflict minerals”.

The name refers to minerals – commonly tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold – that are heavily mined in and around the Democratic Republic of Congo using forced labour, debt bondage and child slavery.

Walk Free, the anti-slavery group founded by Mr Forrest, is stepping up its campaign against Nintendo, which it says is yet to take concrete steps to guarantee that the microprocessors powering its consoles are free from the minerals.

The group started an email campaign encouraging people to quiz Nintendo chiefs about their conflict minerals policy last year. It has launched a new push after last month’s decision by Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker, to guarantee its microprocessors are conflict mineral free.

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Reverse the resource curse – by Jana Morgan (The Hill – January 22, 2014)

http://thehill.com/ [Washington D.C.]

Groups representing more than 1,300 mining companies, including some of the largest in the world, are backing mandatory disclosure of payments to governments, similar to a rule created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Canadian mining industry associations and civil society organizations recently released recommendations to the Canadian government after nearly a year and a half of consultation and negotiation.

These recommendations, modeled after Section 1504 of Dodd-Frank, are aimed at reversing the resource curse – where countries with abundant natural resources suffer from severe poverty, instability and corruption. Seven of the ten lowest-scoring countries in the UN Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, income and education, rely on oil and mineral revenues for a majority of their exports.

A 2013 report by the Africa Progress Panel, chaired by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, estimated that Africa alone loses $63 billion every year to corruption. Shedding light on secretive resource deals will help track this money and stem the flow of corruption.

The recommendations would require that all mining companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges disclose the payments they make to governments where they operate.

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Intel’s Ban on Conflict Minerals Wows National Geographic Photographer – by Tom O’Neill (National Geographic – January 9, 2014)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/

Marcus Bleasdale has spent a decade documenting brutal conditions in eastern Congo’s mines. He calls the Intel announcement “huge.”

Intel’s announcement that every microprocessor that it ships will be made without conflict minerals from Africa hit both a personal and professional nerve for photographer Marcus Bleasdale.

Bleasdale has spent the past decade photographing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to bring the issue to the world’s eyes: workers, including children, toiling in brutal conditions in mines overseen by militias in eastern Congo. In October National Geographic magazine published “The Price of Precious,” which featured Bleasdale’s powerful photos dramatizing the suffering of people caught in the middle of the violent, illegal grab for minerals like tin, tungsten, and gold. They’re referred to as “conflict minerals” because of the ongoing strife between army commanders and militia chiefs over control of the mines.

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Intel says its processors are now free of minerals from mines held by armed groups in Congo – by Peter Svensson (The Republic – January 07, 2014)

http://www.therepublic.com/ [Columbus, Indiana]

LAS VEGAS — Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer processors, says its processors are now free of minerals from mines held by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It’s the first major U.S. technology company to make such a claim about its products. It’s the fruit of four years of work by the company to determine the sources of four crucial metals widely used in electronics manufacturing: tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold.

Eastern Congo is rich in minerals, and economic activity other than mining has been disrupted by nearly two decades of fighting between the government, rogue soldiers and different ethnic groups. There’s been widespread concern that foreign purchases of minerals from mines held by armed groups are fueling the conflict, though many experts say the minerals are not the root cause of the fighting.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich made the announcement Monday in a keynote speech ahead of the opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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Amnesty International News Release: USA: Reject legal threat to lifesaving Conflict Minerals Rule

http://www.amnesty.org/en

January 6, 2014 – US corporate interests must not be allowed to invalidate the Conflict Minerals Rule, which requires companies to investigate and disclose whether their products contain certain minerals that help fund armed groups in mineral-rich countries in Africa, said Amnesty International today.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear a challenge by three industry groups against the rule on Tuesday. Amnesty International joined the lawsuit to support the rule.

“This legal challenge to the Conflict Minerals Rule is nothing but a crass effort by industry groups to put profits ahead of principles,” said Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA.

“The rule was required by Congress to save lives and stop human rights abuses by curbing the flow of funding to armed groups operating with impunity in the areas these minerals are mined – in Democratic Republic of the Congo and other central African countries.” The Conflict Minerals Rule was required by the US Congress in 2010 as part of a raft of measures to reform business practices after the 2008 economic downturn.

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Only legislation will stop minerals being traded at the expense of human rights – by Zobel Behalal (The Guardian – December 16, 2013)

http://www.theguardian.com/uk

Conflict minerals found in cars, electronics and other products will only be eradicated with new laws and business buy-in

One of the key drivers underpinning some of the world’s worst ongoing violent conflicts over the past few years is the extraction and trade of natural resources.

Recently in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Séléka rebels, who have carried out acts of violence against their people, have taken advantage of the diamonds trade to consolidate their power. This has led to the exclusion of the CAR from the Kimberley process aimed at tackling conflict diamonds.

Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of Congo the extraction of cassiterite, gold, tungsten and coltan has financed warring factions for the past two decades, in a conflict that has already resulted in millions of victims.

But Africa does not have a monopoly on this kind of problem. In Burma the mining industry was militarised for several decades, with the national army controlling mining sites, business operations and exportation. While in Colombia tantalum, wolframite and gold mines as well as their respective business concerns are controlled and taxed by armed groups.

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Think You’re Not Part of the Congo Conflict? Check Your Pocket – by Paul Dewar (Huffington Post – December 13, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Paul Dewar is the NDP MP for Ottawa Centre; Official Opposition Foreign Affairs Critic

As we prepare for the holiday season, many of us are thinking about how we can be responsible consumers. The choices we make about where we shop and what we buy have an important impact on the environment and on the people who make the products we enjoy.

Four and a half years ago, I visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo — a place of beauty and heartbreak, mountain gorillas and mass atrocities. For a decade and a half, government forces, rebel groups, and private militias have been competing for control of territory and natural resources.

I spoke with Congolese government officials to see what was being done to enable a future of peace and sustainable development. The most striking response was not an answer but a question — my question, turned back on me: “What are you doing?”

And it was a fair question, because the truth is that the tragedy of the Congo is not merely a Congolese or an African problem. It is our problem — and the reason is probably in your pocket.

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Companies Need to Step Up to Meet New Conflict-Minerals Reporting Rule – by Robert Bowman (Forbes Magazine – December 10, 2013)

http://www.forbes.com/

Time is running out for manufacturers to begin reporting on the presence of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their supply chains.

Beginning May 31, 2014, publicly traded companies will be required to declare to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission whether or not their products or components contain tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold — dubbed “3TG” materials — from mines in the DRC that are engaged in human rights abuses.

The requirement was included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama in July of 2010. It has taken nearly four years, however, for the SEC to gather public comments and clarify the rule. And the May 31 deadline is just the beginning of a two-year phase-in.

Nevertheless, many businesses have been dragging their feet on preparations for complying. According to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC in the spring of 2013, at least a third of executives were still unsure as to whether it applied to their operations.

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COLUMN-Leave critical minerals to the market – by John Kemp (Reuters India – December 9, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

Dec 9 (Reuters) – The Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013, backed by a bipartisan group of 18 senators, is one of those pieces of special-interest legislation that deserves to die in the U.S. Congress.

The bill (S 1600), pending before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, directs the secretary of the interior to designate a list of up to 20 “critical minerals” based on the risk of potential supply restrictions and their importance to the economy.

The bill identifies minerals that must be imported and are therefore at risk from trade embargoes, military action, cartels and other anticompetitive behaviour, for designation, particularly if they are used in important sectors such as energy production, defence, agriculture, consumer electronics and healthcare.

The bill authorises the federal government to spend up to $20 million to compile a comprehensive national assessment for each critical mineral, including how much is produced domestically and how much is imported. It makes $8 million available to speed up the inter-agency review process for issuing mining permits on federal lands.

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Tin miners getting twice price for certified DRC ore – US State Department – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – November 26, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Tin-mining companies that certified their ore against conflict were receiving prices double those of noncertified participants, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Peter Harrell said on Tuesday.

“Miners participating in that scheme are earning $4/kg for tin ore compared to $2/kg for noncertified tin ore,” Harrell said, referring to a tin-led initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) South Kivu region to tag and certify tin ore from conflict-free mines.

Harrell was speaking from Washington in a telephonic press conference call on compliance with the conflict minerals provisions of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires companies listed on US stock exchanges to assure that tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold sourced from Africa’s Great Lakes region have not funded conflict.

USAID DRC mission director Diana Putman, who joined the discussion from Kinshasa, said 150 mine sites in the DRC were currently in the traceability system and being accepted as conflict free by smelters in Asia, Europe and the US.

“But that is only 10% or less of the mine sites in the east, so there’s still a lot more work to do,” Putman said.

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OPINION: Congo-Kinshasa: Blood Coltan – Remote-Controlled Warfare and the Demand for Strategic Minerals – by Giunta Carrie (All Africa.com – November 21, 2013)

http://allafrica.com/

The atrocious war in Congo is tied to the huge appetite in the west for strategic minerals essential to the electronics and military industries. The criminal regimes in Uganda and Rwanda sponsor proxy militias whose violence facilitates the smuggling of these minerals through the two African nations.

The Congolese war, which has killed over six million people since 1996, is the deadliest conflict in the world since the Second World War. If you add the number of deaths in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Rwanda over the same period, it would still not equal the millions who have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Part of a solution to this is for western governments to hold Rwanda and Uganda accountable for funding proxy armies in the DRC. The retreat of M23 rebels from the Eastern DRC in recent days shows international pressure to stop Rwanda from supporting the rebels is working. The DRC insurgency is far from over, as other rebel groups are still to be defeated. There is a long way to go before stabilization in the region will be possible.

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Rwanda: People Too Have a Right to Minerals Trade – by Felly Kimenyi (All Africa.com – November 15, 2013)

http://allafrica.com/

The writer is an editor at The New Times.

OPINION

Kigali is playing host to a summit of stakeholders in the mining sector from across the world, and Rwandan businesses are keenly involved as players in this global business.

Local traders say they have for years been treated unfairly in the global minerals chain, with unfounded suspicion, and were determined to make their case at the conference.

The Sixth Responsible Mineral Supply Chains summit is seeking solutions to the perpetual problem of the so-called ‘conflict minerals’ to ensure that dealers and end-users do not end up financing bloody conflicts in the region – knowingly or otherwise.

Reports, year in, year out, by such groups as the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have previously alleged that Rwanda was a major transit for illicit minerals from the Congo.

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Toward Electronics Free of Conflict Minerals – by Wasima Khan (Huffington Post – October 28, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Wasima Khan is a PhD Candidate in Corporate Law, Erasmus University – Rotterdam.

With the acquisition of conflict minerals for their manufacturing, the electronics industry is involved in an ongoing humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Recent law reforms for US listed companies have so far failed to incentivize investors to change corporations’ “bad” practices. Can social enterprises like Fairphone can help achieve a world free of conflict mineral products?

One of the world’s deadliest wars continues to wrack the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and it is partly financed and sustained by the electronics industry. Electronics-makers seek a variety of natural resources for the production of their products in DR Congo. Yet armed militia have taken over the natural resource mines in this region and commit severe human rights abuses.

As the corporations are forced to reckon with these armed groups to acquire natural resources, the latter have effectively become a part of the electronics industry’s supply chain. As a result, aggressive militia, violating human rights, are profiting from the exploitation of raw material resources.

So how do big legal sticks force corporations to remove themselves from this ugly situation? In order to address DR Congo’s humanitarian crisis, law reforms have recently taken place in the United States specifically targeting electronics corporations.

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