[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.37]this is the Economics Report.
[00:05.38]Researchers have produced a new map of mining areas
[00:10.05]in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
[00:12.93]The map shows mines under the control of
[00:16.54]the Congolese army and armed groups.
[00:20.07]The study suggests that the top conflict mineral
[00:24.86]in the area is now gold.
[00:28.12]A Belgian group,
[00:30.58]the International Peace Information Service (IPIS),
[00:34.00]carried out the study in partnership
[00:36.85]with the DRC registry of mines.
[00:40.33]The researchers found that armed groups were involved
[00:45.69]in about 200 of the 800 mines they studied,
[00:50.67]the Congolese army was involved at 265 mines.
[00:56.69]The researchers reported that both the military
[01:01.46]and the militias are taxing mine workers illegally.
[01:06.43]The International Peace Information Service
[01:10.25]carried out a similar survey in 2009.
[01:14.57]Filip Hilgert was the lead researcher.
[01:18.48]He told VOA the map they made 4 years ago is no longer correct.
[01:25.11]He said many of the miners are now digging for gold,
[01:29.53]and he said the armed groups are profiting much more
[01:34.05]from gold than from other conflict minerals,
[01:37.72]such as tin, tungsten and tantalum.
[01:41.84]These minerals are often called the "three T's."
[01:46.65]One reason for the change has been an increase
[01:51.87]in the price of gold.
[01:53.68]Another reason has been stronger international rules
[01:58.54]for mineral imports.
[02:00.22]The United States Congress passed legislation
[02:04.53]to fight the trade of conflict minerals.
[02:07.40]Mr Hilgert says such efforts have had a big effect
[02:13.52]on trade in the three T's,
[02:16.07]but it has not effected the gold trade.
[02:20.13]Judith Sargentini is a member of the European parliament.
[02:25.17]She has been campaigning for a European law on conflict minerals.
[02:31.29]She notes that gold like diamonds
[02:34.87]is easy to transport in small amounts,
[02:38.73]that explains why it is hard to know where it was mined.
[02:45.10]The German geological institute BGR
[02:50.26]has collected minerals from hundreds of mines in Rwanda.
[02:54.98]The collections could be used to prove
[02:59.04]whether a sample of minerals came from a conflict area.
[03:03.91]But Judith Sargentini suggests
[03:06.97]that geophysical tests will not work.
[03:10.53]She say buyers need to know about their suppliers.
[03:15.54]"You cannot solve every trade in a commodity by trying
[03:20.51]to find out what the geological background of a material is.
[03:25.39]It shows that you need, first of all,
[03:28.20]a due diligence supply chain,
[03:30.31]and second of all,
[03:31.48]initiatives that lead to fairtrade gold mining," said Sargentini.
[03:35.28]Due diligence in this case means knowing
[03:40.61]and being about to trust your supplier.
[03:44.57]And that is the Economics Report for VOA Learning English.
[03:51.00]I'm Mario Ritter.