ST. ALBANS, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND -- An international program designed to legally bring minerals from central African mines to the world markets is drawing plaudits for its effectiveness.

A report on supply-chain initiatives developed in the past five years issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that the iTSCi Programme is "the only on-the-ground due diligence program that has effectively brought Great Lakes minerals to the international market."

The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika, two of the world's largest lakes.

The iTSCi Programme is a joint industry membership program designed to assist companies with traceability, due diligence and audit requirements on purchases of minerals from high risk areas as recommended in the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines and UN recommendations. It is administered under the auspices of ITRI, the International Tin Research Institute.

The program helps members comply with the US Dodd Frank Law on conflict minerals, the CFSI's Conflict-Free Smelter audit program (CFSP), the ICGLR's Regional Certification Initiative, and BGR's Certified Trading Chains Initiative (CTC).

iTSCi said its work in the Great Lakes Region of Africa has led to an estimated 80,000 artisanal and small-scale miners -- supporting an estimated 400,000 dependents -- being granted access to the international market where they can sell their minerals freely.

The OECD is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Its report highlighed how “iTSCi has made remarkable progress and is the only on-the-ground traceability and due diligence program that has to date been able to demonstrate a clear impact on mineral production and exports.”

The iTSCi Governance Committee issued a statement expressing its "delight" with the OECD comments, calling them "a reflection of the commitment of the upstream 3T industry and the unique progress made by iTSCi and its partners since 2010."

3T refers to tin, tantalum and tungsten, three common minerals mined in the contested areas of east-central Africa.

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