Conflict Minerals Affects the Tech Industry in 2024

By Shubhendra Anand , 17 February, 2025

Major IT companies like Meta, Amazon, and other big tech companies face serious concerns about conflict minerals. Companies are making efforts to solve these issues in 2024. This is a severe concern globally for the tech sector in 2024. However, experts claim that if this issue is not solved, it may affect human rights. Therefore, it is necessary to set up a sustainable and ethical tech industry for more transparency in the market. 

In its Conflict Minerals Report (CMR) for 2023, Amazon admits that it cannot entirely rule out obtaining minerals from nine African countries where mining profits militias that violate human rights. These nations are Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Uganda. The remaining four members of GAMAM, commonly called Big Tech, may get some of the raw materials used in contracted smelters' processing from these areas. GAMAM stands for Gold, Antimony, Magnesium, Aluminium, and Manganese.

Minerals from six of the ten African nations listed above may have been handled by smelters linked to the supply chains of Apple and Alphabet, Google's parent company. Amazon's Conflict Minerals Report (CMR) for 2023 states it cannot completely rule out sourcing minerals from nine African nations where mining funds human rights-violating militias. These nations are Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Uganda. Minerals from six of the ten African nations listed above may have been handled by smelters linked to the supply chains of Apple and Alphabet, Google's parent company. Meta identifies five countries in their analysis, whereas Microsoft claims to have reason to believe that minerals from two of the ten mentioned nations may end up in their products. The countries list maintained by Alphabet was last updated in 2021, and it has not been a part of their yearly CMR since 2022.

 
The conflict minerals tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold, or 3TG, are found in certain areas; nonetheless, Microsoft's conflict minerals report states that the firm depends on "responsible sourcing" instead of limiting or eliminating their use. It is claimed that ceasing activities in CAHRAs and Covered Countries will seriously impair the economies of the impacted nations.

Contractors working with GAMAM companies extract and process raw materials in countries categorized as CAHRAs or Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. The extended CAHRA definition, which encompasses, among other places, areas in Afghanistan, Mexico, Myanmar, and Yemen, covers the mining of minerals and other conflict resources.                      

Geopolitics is the main reason behind several mining related issues in 2024: