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NAM to State Department: End “Conflict Minerals” Mandate

By NAM News Room


The “conflict minerals” disclosure provision of the Dodd-Frank Act has failed to stem violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and discouraged American private-sector investment in the region and should be phased out, the NAM told the Trump administration this week.

What’s going on: “The NAM greatly appreciates the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts to promote American access to critical minerals and to bring peace and prosperity to central Africa,” the NAM told the State Department on Thursday.

  • “To further these goals, we encourage the Trump administration to consider invoking the statutory sunset provision in Section 1502.”
  • Alternatively, the NAM urges the administration to support legislation to repeal this costly disclosure mandate.

The background: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule, which was mandated by Section 1502, requires public companies in the U.S. to annually disclose whether their products contain four minerals (gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum) mined in the DRC or adjoining nations ( Forbes.com).

  • The DRC has become a focal point of the administration as President Trump seeks alternatives to China for critical minerals.
  • The administration has worked simultaneously to broker peace in the area.

Violence continues: Though the intent of the conflict minerals provision was to stop the violence in the eastern DRC, “conditions … have not measurably improved” since the rule took effect, the NAM said.

  • In fact, a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report “found that the conflict minerals rule ‘was associated with a spread of violence, particularly around informal, small-scale gold mining sites,’” the NAM continued.

Compliance costs: The provision has also added “staggering” compliance costs for U.S. industry. In 2011, the NAM estimated it would cost U.S. industry between $9.4 billion and $16 billion initially to comply with this mandate, plus ongoing due diligence and reporting costs.

  • For example, the NAM wrote, “In 2017, a large NAM member company reported that it incurs $2 million in [Section 1502] compliance costs each year and its ongoing due diligence efforts require as many as 4.5 full-time equivalent employees.”
  • The mandate has also prompted “many U.S. companies, their primary suppliers, and smelter operators … [to conclude] that it makes more sense to refrain from obtaining any minerals from the Congo region.”

What should be done: Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act should be phased out, the NAM concluded.

  • “After 15 years of failing to end violence in the DRC, forcing U.S. companies to incur billions of dollars in compliance costs and reducing U.S. supply chain resilience, it is time to end this mandate and try a different approach, including greater U.S. investment and continued diplomatic pressure,” said NAM Senior Director of Corporate Finance Policy Ted Allen and Vice President of Domestic Policy Jake Kuhns.

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