Perhaps not coming as a surprise, the Securities and Exchange Commission did not publish their final regulation on conflict minerals before the end of December, and has formally moved the rule’s timeframe to January – June 2012. Sources are indicating that January is now thought to be SEC’s target.
Read more →Prior to the November 1 closing of the reopened public comment period on SEC’s proposed conflict minerals regulations, several companies and individuals filed new or updated comments. Among the commenters are two organizations serving environmental, health and safety auditing practitioners. … Continue reading →
The following is a transcript of Elm’s opening comments and answers to questions posed by SEC staff at this week’s Conflict Minerals Roundtable in Washington DC. These comments were presented by Lawrence M. Heim, CPEA of Elm’s Atlanta office. Opening … Continue reading →
A new study on the economic impact of SEC proposed conflict minerals rule was released earlier this week by Tulane University. The study evaluated cost estimates from SEC , National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and IPC and provides what they … Continue reading →
We are pleased to announce that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has selected Lawrence Heim of Elm’s Atlanta office to sit on the expert panel for Panel 2 of their previously announced public roundtable on the proposed conflict … Continue reading →
If you missed this morning’s broadcast of the webinar on conflict minerals sponsored by MetalMiner and Aravo with Elm as a presenter, you can watch the replay here. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or comments about the presentation.
Read more →Recently, Elm posted a piece discussing comments from Kevin Parker, the CEO of Deutsche Asset Management, an investment firm with three-fourths of US$1 trillion under management. We expanded that original post for EHS Journal, who just published it. The expanded … Continue reading →
Elm will be a featured presenter in a free webinar on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CDT sponsored by MetalMiner and Aravo. Lisa Reisman, Editor of MetalMiner, will provide opening remarks and then pass the program to Lawrence M. … Continue reading →
Recent reports in the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor (CSM) about the impact of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sparked both controversy and debate in the media and in on-line conversations. The CSM article contains an interview with Eric Kajemba who, according to the CSM, is founder/director of Observatoire Gouvernance et Paix (OGP), an NGO based in Bukavu, and has worked in the minerals trade. Mr. Kajemba provided insight into DRC’s mining sector in the twelve months since the law’s passage. Among his more interesting quotes: … It is true that there is no official embargo on the Congo today, and that the Dodd-Frank law did not call for such an embargo. But the truth is that as soon as the Congolese export ban was lifted, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) [an electronics industry body] in the United States imposed a de facto embargo. Traders here only had time to sell their stock and then everything stopped again! Now most of the minerals seem to leak out through smuggling. … There are a lot of initiatives that have been proposed, but this has added to the confusion. We need one approach. The centres de négoce and tagging are
Read more →In a letter dated July 28, 2011, the leaders of the House Committee on Financial Services submitted additional comments to the SEC on the yet-to-be-finalized conflict minerals regulations. The Committee Leaders, Congressmen Spencer Bachus, Gary Miller, Robert Dold and Steve Stivers, provided their recommendations on specific elements of a transitional implementation plan for Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Key points brought forth in the letter include: The State Department’s most recent map of Conflict Zone Mines is incomplete, the mine sites are inaccessible, the Congolese Ministry of Mines cannot obtain verifiable information, and the information in the map is insufficient for companies t use in effective due diligence. Creation of a new temporary category – “indeterminate origin.” This would exempt companies from filing SEC reports when the origin is not possible to ascertain. Due diligence efforts would still be required and proper filings made once the source is determined. Retaining the “indeterminate origin” classification as permanent for scrap materials. A call to establish a de minimis standard for conflict minerals. It is interesting to note that the letter explicitly indicates the need for a “multi-tiered certification system, especially at the smelter and refinery level”. Such a program is not
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