As I stood in the upstairs office of a tin refinery, I could see the mine just up the mountainside, a steady stream of donkeys pulling carts full of t...
U.S. Customs Takes Enforcement Action Against Gold from the DRC
Recent action taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) illustrates the cost of turning a blind eye to forced labor in supply chains and under...
Why Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry Data is Invaluable to Responsible Minerals Programs
One of the primary purposes of any responsible minerals program is to account for the origin of minerals of concern — including tantalum, tin, tungste...
Building a Responsible Sourcing Program: Where to Start
Mineral mining has been a key component of societal progress since the Industrial Age. However, in recent years, numerous reports of human rights viol...
Best Practices for Completing a CMRT
The Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) was created by the Responsible Mineral Initiative (RMI) to help companies perform supply chain due dil...
The European Commission Prepares to Launch “Due Diligence Ready!” Initiative
On November 20, 2019, the European Commission (EC) will launch a new initiative, Due Diligence Ready!, to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) imp...
RMI Releases New Cobalt Reporting Template
Cobalt has been the topic of media articles, NGO-sponsored reports and heavy discussion for years, but when demand for the mineral skyrocketed, so did...
Broadening Responsible Sourcing Initiatives
Companies are beginning to look beyond tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (3TGs) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding countri...
Independent Report Reveals Weaknesses in Conflict Minerals Due Diligence
An independent study recently found 95 percent of corporate conflict mineral policies were not aligned with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation ...
New Breed of Regulations Won’t End With Conflict Minerals | Compliance Week Reprint
Assent Compliance marketing department was happy to contribute to the following article which appeared in Compliance Week on Aug 27, 2013. When Congr...