Dodd-Frank Bill Contains Provision that May Lead to Tracking of All Gold Coins

Robert Wenzel
Economic Policy Journal
Jul. 27, 2010

The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill contains a provision that requires companies buying gold and other minerals to submit an annual report outlining what they are doing to ensure their minerals are "conflict-free."

Most of the focus on this provision, to date, has been on the ramifications for high tech companies such as Apple and Intel. But the provision goes beyond the minerals used in high tech equipment, such as cobalt, copper and tantalum. Gold is also on the list.

The Bill requires that manufacturers report where they purchased their minerals to ensure that they have not been purchased from "conflict zone" countries, which include Congo and neighboring countries.

The concept of conflict-free began with diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or a warlord's activity. The idea being that the purchase of diamonds from such war zones should be illegal, ostensibly to stop the financing of the wars. It is believed by observers of the diamond industry, such as Edward J. Epstein, that DeBeers was behind the idea of conflict-free diamonds as a way to limit the supply of diamonds that come on the market. Nevertheless the concept took hold.

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