Banro Corp. fka BAA

[CrazyDonkey]

Actually very good news:

Good news from Congo. And perhaps even more unexpectedly, it has come about with the help of users of mobile phones, legislators in Washington and corporate giants such as Apple and Intel. That is the finding of an investigation by the Enough Project, an anti-genocide campaign group, which says Congolese warlords have lost their grip on most of the country's mines and lucrative conflict minerals.

See: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/11/congo-mines-no-longer-grip-warlords-militias-report-enough-project (June 11, 2014)

...in an apparent triumph for consumer activism, and blow to political cynicism, the militias have lost control of more than two-thirds of mines in the past four years, according to the Enough Project. Among the warlords to cede control is Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed "The Terminator", who once profited handsomely from illegal mines but is now facing trial at the international criminal court.

The turning point was a US law introduced in 2010, that required companies to determine the origin of minerals used in products....The firms, presumably aware of the public relations implications of being linked to murderous warlords and child labour, have generally complied.

Now, for the first time in Congo's history, there is a validation process to evaluate mines as conflict-free, and 112 out of 155 mines surveyed passed as clean. Intel is producing the world's first fully conflict-free product that contains clean Congolese minerals, the report says, while Apple has validated its tantalum supply chain as conflict-free. "This is spurring other companies to accelerate their reform efforts"....

According to the Enough Project, communities near conflict-free mining projects now experience a greatly reduced presence of armed groups, while hospitals and schools are starting to be built in those areas. The wages of miners have also risen, in some cases threefold, and an increased number of miners now receive helmets and safety equipment and experience safer working conditions.