The “Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” signed into law by U.S. president Barack Obama, contains a provision on disclosures of ‘conflict minerals’. The bill identifies the conflict minerals as gold, coltan, cassiterite, wolframite or their derivatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) and bordering countries.

The introduction of the provision intends to prevent trade of these substances to fund conflict in the DRC and the nine countries adjoining it. It requires that publicly-traded manufacturing firms disclose certain details of the identified minerals used in manufacturing processes to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The publicly-traded gold manufacturers need to annually file information with the SEC disclosing the source of gold used in their products, details on the due diligence they exercised to ensure that the gold did not benefit armed groups.

One of the original co-sponsors of the provision, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, states on his website that it applies only to “companies on the U.S. stock exchanges for which these minerals constitute a necessary part of a product they manufacture’. This applies although the regulations implementing the bill are yet to be drafted.

The law was created to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system.