How the electronics giant is leading the industry in making sure its products do not fuel war, corruption, and atrocities in mining nations.

If you use electronics or wear gold jewelry, you're participating in an economy that finances armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which gather significant sources of income from the mining of tin, tantalum, gold, and tungsten in the country. At least, that was the case until recently.

An uptick in corporate social responsibility efforts, combined with pressure from the Dodd-Frank Act--a bill that requires U.S. companies to prove due diligence to the Securities and Exchange Commission that they are trying to remove conflict minerals from their supply chain--is making it more possible than ever to reach the ideal of a conflict-free supply chain.

In January, Intel announced that all of its microprocessors are conflict-free. Now, the company is taking on a more ambitious goal: making every Intel product conflict-free by 2016.

A few years ago, this wouldn't have been possible. Now, it's a realistic, but still incredibly challenging goal. Here's why.

For the complete article, please see Fast Company & Inc.