ABSTRACT
Minerals sourced from government-confirmed conflict-free areas in the region are "bagged-and-tagged" with unique labels. A chain-of-custody record follows bags along transportation routes to local sorting, through international shipping ports, and ultimately to overseas smelters where tags are confirmed as conflict-free, and minerals are processed and refining to metals and other useful forms. Minerals entering smelters from other regions of the world are covered under conflict-free programs to provide due diligence that smuggled materials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not flowing through other countries outside the high-risk areas in central Africa. As a result of the network of management systems for conflict-free sourcing, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold from central Africa enter global supply-chains destined for high-tech electronics and other consumer goods. The government-based mechanisms mesh with the private-sector certification approach provided by the "bag-and-tag" program in central Africa, and are further connected into private sector programs that link minerals to smelters to users of metals.
