Yesterday, we brought you the story of the new federal rules that will regulate the disclosure of “conflict minerals”—which include cassiterite, wolframite, coltan, and gold.
Today, Bloomberg Businessweek has released a massive investigative story on the awful conditions of tin mining in Indonesia. Tin, as it turns out, is also another key element found in nearly all consumer gadgets, most notably in the solder that holds all those electronic components together.
“A large flat-screen television can contain as much as 4.8 grams of solder, according to German solder maker Henkel,” the news agency reports. “The iPad or a competing tablet can hold at least 20 percent of that amount, with its tin content weighing in at anywhere from 1 to 3 grams, according to Henkel and ITRI, a UK-based industry trade group. That means the construction of as few as five iPads, which weigh about 1.4 pounds each, consumes as much tin solder as the average car, which weighs about 4,000 pounds.”
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DIGITAL JUICE
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