Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has accused Apple of using illegally exported minerals from the country’s war-torn east, challenging the iPhone maker’s claims that it carefully checks the origins of materials in its devices.
Lawyers for the Democratic Republic of Congo government wrote a series of questions to Apple CEO Tim Cook in an April 22 letter seen by the Financial Times.
In the letter, DRC lawyers based in France and the U.S. say Apple’s iPhones, Mac computers and other accessories are “stained by the blood of the Congolese people.”
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the letter on Thursday. Apple’s recent disclosures about its use of so-called conflict minerals said the company has “no reasonable basis to conclude” that any of its tin, tungsten and tantalum smelters or refineries “directly support” armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo or neighboring countries or indirectly financed”.
DRC lawyers say they met with President Félix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa in September and were tasked by the government to investigate the illegal export of so-called “3T” materials from Congolese territory.
Tin, tungsten and tantalum are crucial in the manufacture of smartphones, and Apple’s sourcing of these minerals has long been under scrutiny. The iPhone manufacturer is increasingly placing ecological and social responsibility at the center of its marketing campaigns.
Various armed groups control strategic supply chains to Rwanda and Uganda, analysts and Congolese officials say.
A Congolese mining belt along the Democratic Republic of Congo’s borders with Uganda and Rwanda holds some of the world’s largest deposits of coltan, the ore from which tantalum is extracted. There is currently heavy fighting between government troops and the M23 rebel group in this mineral-rich region. The United Nations, US and EU say M23 is backed by neighboring Rwanda. Claims that Kigali does not recognize.
The M23 rebels control important mineral trade routes between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu. The Rwandan government has barred the country from benefiting from the alleged $1 billion a year Congo loses from mineral smuggling. Amid some of the M23’s most violent attacks, the EU agreed in February to purchase critical minerals from Rwanda.
On Thursday, Washington DC-based law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP – which, along with Paris-based Bourdon & Associés, represents the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo – released a report claiming that Rwanda had used the rebel groups to raise “huge amounts” to wash important minerals from the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They say the electronic components companies that supply several technology, telecommunications and defense companies knowingly buy laundered minerals from Rwanda.
In the letter to Cook, DRC lawyers say Apple’s claims that it is investigating the origin of these materials “do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence” and claim the company relies on suppliers based in Rwanda .
A separate cease and desist letter was sent to Apple subsidiaries in France.
Over the last decade, Apple has expanded the use of recycled materials in its devices to reduce consumption of such metals and minerals. It says it is working towards a long-term goal of creating a “closed-loop supply chain” after pledging in 2014 to “one day stop mining the earth altogether”.
“Last year, more than 20 percent of the materials we shipped in Apple products came from recycled sources,” Apple said in its latest “environmental progress report,” including more than 99 percent of the tungsten in its products.
“In 2023, 100 percent of identified tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold (3TG), cobalt and lithium smelters and refineries in Apple’s supply chain have completed assessments to verify compliance with our standards,” Apple said .