The DRC is a vast, mineral-rich nation with an estimated population of approximately 72 million to 74 million people in an area that is roughly one-quarter the size of the United States. It was colonized in 1885 as a personal possession of Belgian King Leopold II and administered by the Belgian government starting in 1907. It achieved independence from Belgium in 1960. For almost 30 years of the postindependence period, the DRC was known as Zaire and was ruled by an authoritarian regime under Mobutu Sese Seko. Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, some perpetrators of the genocide and refugees fled into eastern DRC. See figure 1 for a map of the DRC and adjoining countries. The Mobutu regime was toppled in 1997 by Laurent Kabila, who led a rebel group from eastern DRC with the assistance of Rwanda and Uganda. Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and leadership shifted to his son, Joseph Kabila. During the period of the senior Kabila’s regime, the nation experienced a period of civil war during which numerous rebel groups, with the assistance of Rwanda, Uganda, and other neighboring countries, captured significant parts of the DRC. The war continued into the regime of Joseph Kabila, and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 5.4 million people by 2007. As we reported in 2010, illegal armed groups and some Congolese national military units are consistently and directly involved in human rights abuses against the civilian population in eastern DRC and are involved in the exploitation of conflict minerals and other trades. We also reported that there is a culture of impunity in eastern DRC in which those who have committed human rights abuses do not face justice for the crimes they have committed. After decades of instability and war, the central government in the capital, Kinshasa, currently has little administrative capacity and control over remote regions, including eastern DRC. The long distances between the capital and eastern DRC and the rudimentary infrastructure, which make transportation and communication difficult, further limit the central government’s control in eastern DRC. In 2006, Congress passed the Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006.the policy of the United States to engage with governments working for peace and security throughout the DRC and hold accountable individuals, entities, and countries working to destabilize the country. According to State officials, improving security in the eastern portion of the DRC is central to U.S. efforts. In August 2009, the Secretary of State traveled to the eastern portion of the DRC where, after seeing the consequences of the conflict firsthand, she called for action to assist victims of sexual violence. Recognizing that the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals originating in the DRC is helping to finance conflict, in July 2010 The act stated that it is Congress included a provision in section 1502(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires SEC to issue a rule for covered companies to disclose whether necessary conflict minerals used in their products originated in the DRC or in an adjoining country and, if they did, to provide an additional report with certain disclosures. The United States is the largest donor to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), contributing almost one-third of MONUSCO’s $1 billion annual budget. Furthermore, in November 2011, State and USAID, in collaboration with NGOs, industry, and other governments, launched the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) to support supply chain solutions to conflict minerals challenges in the DRC and neighboring countries. The four conflict minerals covered by section 1502(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act are mined in various locations around the world; for example, tin is mined in China, Indonesia, Peru, Bolivia, as well as the DRC. Similarly, tantalum is reportedly mined in areas such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the DRC. While the majority of tungsten—reportedly 77 to 84 percent of global production from 2006 through 2009—is mined in China and a very small amount is mined in the DRC, gold is mined in many different countries, including the DRC. Our review of United States Geological Survey data on tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold mined in the DRC showed that about 17 percent of the global tantalum supply, about 4 percent of the global tin supply, less than 1 percent of the global tungsten supply, and less than 1 percent of the global gold supply, was mined in the DRC in 2009. However, according to a December 2011 report by the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC (UNGoE), mineral production and exports from eastern DRC have recently fallen. Various industries, in particular manufacturing, use these minerals in a wide variety of products and in varying amounts. Tin is utilized by a multitude of industries in tin solder, which is used to join metal pieces According to company representatives, tin is also found in together. food packaging, in steel coatings on automobile parts, and in some plastics. According to industry association and company representatives, the majority of tantalum is used to manufacture tantalum capacitors, which enable energy storage in electronics products such as cell phones and computers. Tungsten is used in drill bits and cutting tools and other industrial manufacturing tools; it is also the primary component of filaments in light bulbs. In addition to its use as currency and in jewelry, gold is also used by other industries, such as the electronics industry. Figure 2 below depicts a simplified conflict minerals supply chain for all four conflict minerals. For the purposes of this report, it provides a basic overview of how conflict minerals move from the mine of origin to the end consumer. At mines throughout the world, mineral ores are extracted using mechanized industrial or artisanal mining techniques.mining occurs in some provinces in the DRC, such as the Katanga province, artisanal mining is the dominant type of mining used in eastern While industrial DRC where conflict is most prevalent. See figure 3 for a picture of an artisanal mining site in eastern DRC. For artisanal mining, the local processor or trader—an individual or company—purchases minerals directly from mine sites and typically processes or upgrades the material before selling it to the exporter, but the exporter may also purchase minerals directly from mine sites rather than going through a local processor or trader. Also, exporters may carry out further processing or upgrading before exporting the materials to a smelter or refiner. At the most basic level, smelting involves converting a mineral into a metal and refining involves purifying a metal into a higher- purity metal. Although some smelters of tin, tantalum, and tungsten sell high-purity metals through traders or exchanges, smelters primarily sell high-purity tin, tantalum, and tungsten directly to component parts manufacturers. Component parts manufacturers construct individual parts—such as capacitors, engine parts, clasps for necklaces, and other items—that they sell to original equipment manufacturers. Original equipment manufacturers complete the final assembly of a product and sell their products to consumers. The supply chain for industrially mined gold, which is the dominant form of mining conducted outside of eastern DRC, is different. Industrially mined gold is typically shipped from mine sites directly to refiners, bypassing local traders and exporters. Gold refiners typically sell high- purity gold to banks, for use as a store of value, or to international exchanges and traders, where gold is bought and sold. Banks and traders may sell gold to manufacturers, including jewelry or electronics component parts manufacturers and some gold refiners sell gold directly to manufacturers. According to industry association and company representatives, in practice, a company’s supply chain for products containing tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold can be complex and can vary considerably. For example, a company’s conflict minerals supply chains may involve several different entities taking different actions to help develop products and move them through the supply chain. In addition, the supply chains for some companies’ products may contain a small number of component parts, whereas the supply chains for other companies’ products may contain thousands of component parts, which may be sourced from hundreds of different suppliers. SEC has published a proposed conflict minerals disclosure rule and has taken steps to gather input from various stakeholders. However, it has delayed issuing a final rule due to a number of factors, such as addressing intense stakeholder input and dealing with a heavy rule- making workload. SEC did not meet the deadline in the Dodd-Frank Act to issue a final conflict minerals disclosure rule by April 2011, but it has taken some steps toward developing a rule, including publishing a proposed rule in December 2010 (see fig. 4). According to SEC officials, following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010, SEC announced that it would develop a rule and called for public comments on the upcoming rule. In September 2010, SEC posted on its website an estimated issuance date for the proposed disclosure rule of between October 2010 and December 2010; at this time SEC also posted on its website an estimated issuance date for the final rule of between January 2011 and March 2011. In October 2010, SEC revised its estimated issuance date for a final rule to between April and July 2011. On December 15, 2010, SEC issued a proposed rule that reflected the complicated and technical nature of the issues it covered. The proposed rule was over 100 pages and included over 70 questions in which SEC requested feedback from the public on specific technical issues, such as whether reporting standards should apply to all conflict minerals equally, whether certain companies should be exempt from reporting, and whether there should be a de minimis threshold for the amount of conflict minerals used in a product.