Peer-Reviewed Journal Details
Mandatory Fields
Fitzpatrick, C,Olivetti, E,Miller, TR,Roth, R,Kirchain, R
2015
January
Environmental science & technology
Conflict Minerals in the Compute Sector: Estimating Extent of Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten, and Gold Use in ICT Products
Published
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Optional Fields
PRINTED-CIRCUIT BOARDS MATERIAL FLOW-ANALYSIS ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT MOBILE PHONES SUPPLY CHAIN WASTE METALS RECOVERY CONGO
49
974
981
Recent legislation has focused attention on the supply chains of tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (3TG), specifically those originating from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The unique properties of these so-called conflict minerals lead to their use in many products, ranging from medical devices to industrial cutting tools. This paper calculates per product use of 3TG in several information, communication, and technology (ICT) products such as desktops, servers, laptops, smart phones, and tablets. By scaling up individual product estimates to global shipment figures, this work estimates the influence of the ICT sector on 3TG mining in covered countries. The model estimates the upper bound of tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold use within ICT products to be 2%, 0.1%, 15%, and 3% of the 2013 market share, respectively. This result is projected into the future (2018) based on the anticipated increase in ICT device production.
10.1021/es501193k
Grant Details