Diamonds are rare, but it’s not only diamonds that are rare, many materials like tantalum, tin and tungsten used in electronics we take for granted are rare too – most of these used in modern electronics are sourced from areas of conflict or militia-controlled mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are dubbed conflict materials. The sales proceeds of conflict materials used in electronics are used by terrible military groups to dominate people in the area. Some countries including the U.S. are working to enact laws to control use of conflicts materials in electronics, but still there are companies that are publically buying conflict material thus selling conflict electronics to consumers.
Federal law requires that companies to disclose their sources for materials they use in their electronics. A report released by the Enough Project reveals that both HP and Intel are industry leaders with 54% and 60% of their minerals sourced up from conflict-free sources. Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft and Apple too score high in the mineral sources from conflict-free areas. Nintendo, HTC and Nikon however have been placed at the bottom of the list with maximum mineral sources in the conflict areas. So, if you want to be conscious and refrain from buying conflict electronics (blood diamonds), then go through the company-by-company ranking compiled by the Enough Project.
