Other hardware makers have taken a more creative tack. The world’s supply of tantalum is small—most of it would fill a 200-square-foot room—and 12 percent to 14 percent comes from the DRC. The companies saw no way to compete without tapping the country’s deposits, yet to do so they had to upend the traditional supply chain. “There were too many layers,” says Bill Millman, technical and quality director for electronic component maker AVX (AVX), in Fountain Inn, S.C. Typically manufacturers buy ore from refiners in China—long after it’s left the mine. “So we decided to take ownership of the materials from the mine to the customer,” says Millman.
AVX needed a partner in the DRC that would allow independent auditors to supervise both extraction and transport. After much scouting, the company found MMR, an Indian company with a government license to mine in Katanga, a relatively peaceful province. AVX helps to finance MMR’s operation and purchases its ore at global market prices—about $100 a ton. Auditors take notes on every sack of tantulum ore, recording its weight and myriad other details every time it changes hands on its way to port, where AVX handles shipping it to China for refining. The company says the paper trail provides a clear provenance for customers. “We’ve put our name on the line with this,” says Millman. Within the last year, Intel, Motorola Solutions (MSI), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) signed on to buy AVX’s tantalum. Jay Celorie, who manages HP’s conflict minerals program, visited the DRC to observe the process. “We wanted to be assured that they were putting the right kinds of … checks in place, and that it wouldn’t fail.”
Photo Credit for Tantalum capacitors
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