Conflict Minerals: Does Furniture Contain Conflict Minerals?

Jun 25, 2014 | Thomas Russell, Furniture Today
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HIGH POINT — Publicly held furniture companies acknowledge they have taken steps to determine whether various metals used in their finished product come from mines in and around the war-torn Congo region. But based on the limited response from their suppliers, some can’t say for sure whether the raw materials are flowing from that area or not.

The disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission came in advance of an early June deadline to comply with the Conflict Minerals Act.

This regulation is a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act that requires public companies to disclose in their filings whether any minerals mined in the affected areas are used in components in their furniture. Such disclosures are aimed at limiting the mining of such materials in a war-torn region where the proceeds of such mining activities are said to fund militias.