Can DNA Marking Solve 'Conflict-Mineral' Challenge?

After reading Bolaji Ojo's article, Illusions of 'Conflict-Free' Minerals, I wanted to understand how this issue might be tackled head-on and what technology could come into play to counter the forces behind this insidious problem.

My wife and I have a very dear friend in the Congo who has a PhD in urban development and who is also a nurse. This friend is currently leading a humanitarian effort to assist thousands of widows who lost their husbands in the ongoing conflicts. The outlaw military forces are a constant threat to the villages where she works, and many of the men who did not lose their lives have had arms, hands, and legs cut off, rendering them incapable of making a regular living. Conflict minerals -- mainly tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold -- have become the common currency for these nightmare soldiers.

We already know that tantalum, gold, and tin are at the board level in most consumer electronics, and the challenge is to meet the demand for these metals, but not at the expense of human lives. Several companies are rising to that challenge and making considerable progress toward identifying mines and smelters that are not part of the illicit, conflict-ridden supply chain.

EnoughProject.org recently published a report that lists 24 companies and measures their progress towards conflict-free mineral usage since 2010. Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) was ranked the highest with 60 percent progress, while Nintendo had made no effort to trace or audit its supply chain, whatsoever. The fundamental metrics used for tracking progress require tracing, auditing, and certifying the supply chain participants. Credible auditing requires third-party auditors through the industrywide Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program. Twenty smelters have already passed the audits, including most of the tantalum smelters.

But, as Bolaji pointed out, with some regions that are conflict classified being located next to other regions that are not conflict classified, it is simply a matter of moving or smuggling the conflict minerals out of the conflict region to the non-conflict region and having the blood-stained minerals classified as conflict free. Obviously, with these clandestine, trans-regional movements, there arises credible deniability as to the origin of the minerals. Here is where I would like to suggest the optimal technology that could come into play in the very near future.

Currently, bulk copper wire is being treated or sprayed with botanical DNA such that the factory can always identify its own material for tracking and recovery purposes. Copper has been a hot item on the black market for some time, and the thieves trafficking in stolen copper have been able to get away with it quite easily. The DNA marking as a countermeasure is becoming more widespread as copper continues to be a target for theft. Imagine the same technology being applied to bulk materials and even ores.

I don't know if this is practical yet, but large DNA spray or bath operations could mark the raw material ores as coming from conflict-free authorized sources only. Any material not having the authenticating DNA would be suspect as being from a conflict area. Each mine or smelter would have its own DNA signature as issued by a regulatory agency, and the auditing process could be greatly expedited by using random, unscheduled, onsite auditors who have been trained and equipped with the tools for authenticating the DNA.

If I were Nintendo having to respond to the results reported in the EnoughReport.org report, I would want to take action immediately towards rectifying any potential misunderstandings or negative public opinion that might arise from being thought of as a reckless player in the worldwide supply chain. Kudos to Intel and HP for getting high marks for progress towards thwarting the forces behind conflict minerals.

I will pass the EnoughReport.org report on to our friend working in the Congo; she can give some comfort to the women there and their children who have lost husbands and fathers to this horrible situation. To Nintendo and other low rankers, I can only say that doing nothing about conflict minerals might be in conflict with your own best interests as well.