One of the challenges noted by commenters on the regulation is that the status of indivdual mines change, and that knowing from which mine the materials were sourced is not enough, as at the time they were sourced the mine may have been in control of the group(s) which are acceptable, but the mine changed hands and now is in control of the unacceptable group(s). Eliminating sourcing of materials from a specific area will likely punish the folks that the law is intended to benefit. 

Blair

On Sat, 7 Apr 2012 08:22:32 -0400, MacFadden, Todd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I just read an interesting snippet in the April, 2012 National Geographic called "Gemstone DNA," which describes a relatively simple technology that could conceivably make the work of tracing metals to their exact mineral source and location much easier. 

The process, developed by Texas-based Materialytics, uses a laser to convert a "tiny amount of the rock into a bright micro-plasma." The wavelengths from the sparks of light generated have unique spectral qualities that can serve as a "fingerprint." The company is creating a large database from mine locations around the world, with apparently enough precision to ID the actual mine itself in some cases.

I wonder if this could be the conflict-mineral analogue to the XRF gun we all used during the RoHS transition.... 

Todd

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Todd MacFadden
Component & Reliability Engineering
Bose Corporation
The Mountain, MS 31
Framingham, MA 01701
508.766.6259
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