Amid legal uncertainty on conflict minerals, alternatives emerge

There are bright spots on the horizon. Of the 82 conflict-free smelters, 42 work with gold. And it's getting harder for unregulated gold producers to hide their wares. Professional services firm Ernst & Young recently discovered that a gold refiner in Dubai was hiding illegally mined gold from the Congo.

"The more that happens", Lezhenev said, "the better system we'll see getting put in place."

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/conflict-free-minerals-ruling-litigation-apple-intel