SD

 

 

United States

Securities and Exchange Commission

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM SD

 

 

SPECIALIZED DISCLOSURE REPORT

 

 

 

LOGO

Western Digital Corporation

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   001-08703   33-0956711

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Commission

File Number)

 

(IRS Employer

Identification No.)

 

5601 Great Oaks Parkway

San Jose, California

  95119
(Address of principal executive offices)   (Zip Code)

Cynthia Tregillis

Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary

(408) 717-6000

(Name and telephone number, including area code, of the person to contact in connection with this report.)

 

 

Check the appropriate box to indicate the rule pursuant to which this form is being filed, and provide the period to which the information in this form applies:

 

Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13p-1) for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2023.

 

Rule 13q-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13q-1) for the fiscal year ended ____.

 

 

 


Section 1 — Conflict Minerals Disclosure

 

Item 1.01

Conflict Minerals Disclosure and Report

As required by Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Conflict Minerals Rule”), Western Digital Corporation (the “Company”) has filed this Form SD for the reporting period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.

The description of the Company’s reasonable country of origin inquiry (“RCOI”) process, the results of our inquiry, and the determination we reached as a result of the RCOI are included in the Company’s Conflict Minerals Report, attached as an exhibit to this Form SD.

This Form SD and our Conflict Minerals Report, filed as an Exhibit to this Form SD, are publicly available on the Internet at: https://investor.wdc.com/financial-information/sec-filings. The content of any website referred to in this Form SD or the related Conflict Minerals Report is included for general information only and is not incorporated by reference in this Form SD or the related Conflict Minerals Report.

 

Item 1.02

Exhibit

The Conflict Minerals Report described in Item 1.01 is filed as Exhibit 1.01 to this Form SD.

Section 2 — Resource Extraction Issuer Disclosure

 

Item 2.01

Resource Extraction Issuer Disclosure and Report

Not applicable.

Section 3 — Exhibits

 

Item 3.01

Exhibits

The following exhibit is filed as part of this report.

 

Exhibit 1.01   

Conflict Minerals Report as required by Items 1.01 and 1.02 of this Form SD.


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the duly authorized undersigned.

 

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

(Registrant)

   
By:   /s/ Cynthia Tregillis  

 

  May 23, 2024
Name:   Cynthia Tregillis    
Title:   Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary    

 

EX-1.01

Exhibit 1.01

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

Conflict Minerals Report

For the Reporting Period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023

Western Digital Corporation has filed this Conflict Minerals Report as an exhibit to its Form SD for calendar year 2023 as contemplated by Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Conflict Minerals Rule”).

Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “we,” “its,” “us,” “our” and “Company” refer to Western Digital Corporation, or WDC, and its consolidated subsidiaries. As used herein and consistent with the Conflict Minerals Rule, “Conflict Minerals” or “3TG” are columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, gold, wolframite and the derivatives tantalum, tin and tungsten, without regard to the location of origin of the minerals or derivative metals.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any statements that do not relate to historical or current facts or matters are forward-looking statements. You can identify some of the forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “intend” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the additional steps that we intend to take to mitigate risks related to the sourcing of the necessary 3TG.

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual actions or performance to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (1) the continued implementation of satisfactory traceability and other compliance measures by our direct and indirect suppliers on a timely basis or at all, (2) whether smelters and refiners and other market participants responsibly source 3TG, and (3) political and regulatory developments, whether in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, its adjoining countries, the United States or elsewhere. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of filing of this document. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to publish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of filing of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Applicability of the Conflict Minerals Rule to Our Company

We are on a mission to unlock the potential of data by harnessing the possibility to use it. We are a leading developer, manufacturer, and provider of data storage devices based on both flash-based products and hard disk drive technologies. With dedicated business units driving advancements in NAND flash and magnetic recording technologies, we create and drive innovations needed to help customers capture, preserve, access, and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data.

We are subject to the Conflict Minerals Rule because certain products that we manufacture or contract to be manufactured contain 3TG that are necessary to the functionality or production of the products. We do not directly source 3TG from mines, smelters or refiners. However, through the efforts described in this Conflict Minerals Report, we seek to ensure that our sourcing practices are consistent with the expectations stated in our Responsible Minerals Policy (as defined below), which is consistent with the model policy included in the OECD Guidance (as defined below).

 

1


Our Responsible Minerals Policy

We strongly disapprove of the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the “DRC”) and adjoining countries (collectively, the “Covered Countries”). Since well before the adoption of the Conflict Minerals Rule, we have been committed to supporting responsible sourcing of 3TG. We began communicating with suppliers in 2010 regarding the importance of and our commitment to responsible sourcing. We remain committed to this issue and take our compliance obligations under the Conflict Minerals Rule seriously. To these ends, we have adopted and communicated to our suppliers and the public our responsible minerals policy (our “Responsible Minerals Policy”), which is posted on our website at https://westerndigital.com/western-digital-responsible-minerals-policy.pdf. We expect our suppliers to adopt policies based on OECD Guidance with respect to 3TG, cobalt and other minerals in support of our Responsible Minerals Policy and, throughout the supply chain, to require their suppliers to adopt similar policies. Our Responsible Minerals Policy expresses our expectation that our suppliers:

 

  1.

supply 3TG to us that are responsibly sourced, including from conformant smelters in the Covered Countries, by which we mean (a) any 3TG necessary to the functionality and production of supplied materials do not directly or indirectly finance armed groups through mining or mineral trading in the Covered Countries, or (b) any 3TG in supplied materials are from recycled or scrap sources; and

 

  2.

adopt policies with respect to 3TG in support of our Responsible Minerals Policy and, throughout the supply chain, to require their suppliers to adopt similar policies.

Under the Conflict Minerals Rule, an “armed group” is an armed group that is identified as a perpetrator of serious human rights abuses in annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 relating to a Covered Country.

We do not embargo, nor do we support the embargoing of, 3TG from Covered Countries, but rather encourage our suppliers to continue to source responsibly from the region.

In addition, we have been a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”) since 2007. The RBA is the world’s largest industry coalition dedicated to electronics supply chain responsibility. Through the RBA’s Responsible Minerals Initiative (“RMI”), we have worked with and continue to work with other companies focusing on responsible 3TG sourcing. We regularly participate in the RBA and RMI working group meetings including Emerging Minerals, the Due Diligence Practice Team and the Mineral Reporting Team, as well as working with RMI’s China Smelter Engagement Team (“China SET”). Employees selected for the China SET workgroup are able to communicate in Mandarin and conduct outreach with, or perform due diligence on, select smelters and refiners.

Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry Information

As required by the Conflict Minerals Rule, we conducted in good faith a “reasonable country of origin inquiry” (“RCOI”) covering 2023. Our RCOI was reasonably designed to determine whether any of the necessary 3TG contained in our products originated in the Covered Countries or came from recycled or scrap sources. We identified 137 suppliers that we believe provided us with components, parts or products containing necessary 3TG, or that we believe may have provided us with components, parts or products containing necessary 3TG. We provided those suppliers with, and asked those suppliers to complete, the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template developed by the RMI. 100% of those suppliers responded to our request for information. We then evaluated supplier response completeness, reliability and the logic of the data provided and provided feedback to those suppliers.

For 2023, the responding suppliers identified a total of 221 different smelters and refiners that processed the necessary 3TG contained in our products. Based on the information reported by our suppliers that submitted Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates to us and the country of origin information that the RMI1 makes available to its members, we concluded that 22 of these conformant smelters and refiners sourced or may have sourced from the Covered Countries.

Twenty-two (22) of the smelters and refiners that were identified by suppliers as having processed necessary 3TG in our products were reasonably believed by us to have sourced only recycled or scrap content for 2023, based on origin information that the RMI makes available to its members. To the extent that a smelter or refiner processed both recycled or scrap and newly mined 3TG, we were unable to determine the origin of the necessary 3TG in our products.

 

1 

The RMI has a cross-recognition program that incorporates certain information published by the London Bullion Market Association and the Responsible Jewellery Council, where applicable.

 

2


Some of our suppliers were unable to provide country of origin information to us because of incomplete or insufficiently detailed responses from their own suppliers. As a result, we were unable to determine that none of our necessary 3TG originated in the Covered Countries or whether they are from recycled or scrap sources. Therefore, we conducted due diligence on the source and chain of custody of those necessary conflict minerals in our products.

For our reasonable country of origin inquiry, to the extent applicable, we utilized many of the same processes and procedures as for our due diligence, in particular Step #1 and Step #2 of the OECD Guidance (as defined below), which are described below in this Conflict Minerals Report.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence Design

We have designed our due diligence measures relating to 3TG to conform with, in all material respects, the due diligence framework set forth in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (“OECD”) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, including the Supplement on Tin, Tantalum and Tungsten and the Supplement on Gold (Third Edition) (collectively, the “OECD Guidance”).

Due Diligence Measures Performed

The following is a description of the due diligence measures we performed during/for the Reporting Period. The headings below conform to the headings used in the OECD Guidance for each of the five steps.

 

  1.

OECD Step #1: Establish and maintain strong company management systems

 

  a.

We have a team of senior staff who are members of the working group responsible for the management and continued implementation of our 3TG compliance strategy. This staff reports to senior leadership of our Company. The following functional areas are represented on the working group or are otherwise involved with our compliance process: legal; corporate sustainability; procurement; and quality. Leadership of the compliance program resides with our Chief Procurement Officer. The Governance Committee of our Board of Directors also reviews our Company’s corporate responsibility and sustainability policies and programs, as well as the Company’s public reporting on these topics.

 

  b.

Members of the Global Procurement – Responsible Supply Chain team participate in RMI conferences and working groups to expand and upskill knowledge and consistently receive training from RMI on the Conflict Minerals Rule, the OECD Guidance, our compliance program and our procedures for reviewing and validating supplier responses to our inquiries. We have internal procedures documents addressing various aspects of our compliance program, including our review and validation of supplier responses. These documents are communicated to the members of the working group.

 

  c.

We utilize specialist outside counsel and other consultants to assist us with our compliance efforts.

 

  d.

We have a Responsible Minerals Policy, which includes our position on conflict minerals, including our commitment to responsible sourcing from Covered Countries. Our Responsible Minerals Policy is posted on our website at https://westerndigital.com/western-digital-responsible-minerals-policy.pdf and is distributed electronically to supplier-facing employees and all suppliers of materials that we believe contain 3TG.

 

3


  e.

We utilize the RMI’s Conflict Minerals Reporting Template to identify smelters and refiners in our supply chain. We request in-scope suppliers to complete the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template in order to provide information concerning the usage and source of 3TG in their components, parts and products, as well as information concerning their related due diligence and compliance efforts. We encourage our suppliers to consult the information contained on the RMI website and to participate in appropriate third-party training to enhance the accuracy and quality of the information that they provide to us.

 

  f.

We are actively engaged with the RBA and the RMI through our participation in working groups and with RMI’s smelter engagement teams (“SETs”), which engage in outreach with existing and new smelters and refiners to encourage them to participate in audit processes. Our membership in the RBA and the RMI allows us to stay abreast of regulatory guidance and further align our internal procedures with industry best practices.

 

  g.

We have procedures to maintain business records relating to 3TG due diligence, including records of due diligence processes, findings and resulting decisions, on a computerized database for at least six years.

 

  h.

Certain of our forms of purchase order terms and conditions, as well as our component purchase agreements with suppliers, contain a requirement that our suppliers comply with environmental specifications for materials, components and products, which specifically require 3TG to be DRC conflict free and reference the RBA Code of Conduct, which requires the responsible sourcing of minerals generally.

 

  i.

We review selected supplier policies to determine whether they call or advocate for an embargo of 3TG from Covered Countries. Policies were selected for review based on the information provided by suppliers in their Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates. If any reviewed suppliers were suspected of embargoing Covered Countries, we followed up with such suppliers to urge them to amend their policies.

 

  j.

With the annual dissemination of the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template, we provide all in-scope suppliers with a copy of our Responsible Minerals Policy and indicate third-party resources that they can refer to for additional information.

 

  k.

We discuss our assessment of our suppliers’ conflict minerals responses during our supplier business reviews. In addition, we maintain supplier risk profiles, which include risk indicators and smelter risk for all in-scope suppliers. We request that our suppliers follow these same procedures in their supply chain.

 

  l.

As a grievance mechanism, we have a third-party managed Ethics Helpline available for employees, suppliers and other interested parties to report potential violations of our Responsible Minerals Policy. We communicate to these stakeholders the availability of our Ethics Helpline for reporting potential violations of our company policies, which include our Responsible Minerals Policy. Our Ethics Helpline is available 24 hours a day online at www.ethicshelplinewdc.com in nine languages, or by phone, in all countries of operation in over 200 languages. A link to make a report online is also included in our Responsible Minerals Policy. It is our policy that if concerns about our 3TG sourcing or potential violations were to be reported, we would investigate appropriately.

 

  2.

OECD Step #2: Identify and assess risk in the supply chain

 

  a.

We sent requests to all of our suppliers that we identified as having provided us with components, parts or products containing 3TG, or that we believe may have provided us with components, parts or products containing 3TG, in the calendar year ended December 31, 2023, and asked them to provide us with a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template. We requested that our suppliers furnish us with a completed template at the product level (i.e., specific to the products that they sold to us, rather than pertaining to the products sold to all of their customers). We managed our follow-up process through a compliance software program, and suppliers that did not respond to the request for a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template received follow-up emails until it was completed. We also provide one-on-one technical training via conference call as necessary to help suppliers complete the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template.

 

4


  b.

As part of the supplier on-boarding process, we required that new suppliers acknowledge and comply with our Responsible Minerals Policy before we made purchases from them. Next, we asked the supplier to complete a Conflict Minerals Reporting Template or otherwise made inquiries concerning the 3TG content of the components, parts and/or products we are purchasing to determine whether they are in-scope suppliers for purposes of our conflict minerals program. We continue to survey suppliers annually thereafter if they are identified as an in-scope supplier.

 

  c.

Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates are sorted in the compliance software program based on our internally-approved review criteria, which identifies “red flags” such as incomplete responses, potential errors, inaccuracies and potential Covered Country sourcing. As part of our review, we checked whether smelters and refiners disclosed by suppliers processed the types of metals contained in the components, parts and products sourced from those suppliers. We followed up by email or phone with suppliers that submitted a response that contained red flags or that otherwise provided a written response we determined to be unsuitable. We followed up with other suppliers as we deemed appropriate.

 

  d.

We reviewed the smelters and refiners identified by our suppliers against those contained on the Smelter Look-up tab list of the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template and those referenced in the RMI facility database. To the extent that they were not on that list or included in the database, we (a) requested that the supplier confirm that the listed entity is a smelter or refiner and/or (b) through publicly available information, attempted to determine whether the listed entity is a smelter or refiner and whether it has ceased operations.

 

  e.

When a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template from a supplier identified a smelter or refiner, we also reviewed that information against the lists of conformant and active (or the equivalent) smelters and refiners and country of origin information published by the RMI. When a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template from a supplier identified a smelter or refiner that was not listed as conformant or active (or the equivalent) by these independent third-parties, we consulted information that the RMI makes available to its members to attempt to determine whether that smelter or refiner obtained 3TG from sources that directly or indirectly financed or benefitted armed groups in a Covered Country and whether those smelters and refiners have ceased operations.

 

  f.

Suppliers are categorized by internally-developed supplier risk levels, which assign risk across multiple criteria, including smelter or refiner status, red flags identified and the supplier relationship. Suppliers that are identified as being in higher risk categories are escalated in accordance with our risk mitigation procedures, which are described below.

 

  g.

As part of our participation in RMI’s SETs, we worked to research and reach out to certain entities that have been referred to as smelters or refiners but that are not known to fit the RMI’s definition of a smelter or refiner under the RMAP standard (“alleged smelter or refiner”) to identify whether such alleged smelters or refiners meet the definition of smelter or refiner and should be referred to the RMI for consideration to be added to the RMI program.

 

  h.

Our internal compliance procedures and reporting metrics are refined regularly to better ensure we are effectively using program resources and collecting data that is useful to assessing and mitigating risk.

 

5


  3.

OECD Step #3: Design and implement a strategy to respond to identified risks

 

  a.

We have established a risk management plan that includes due diligence reviews of relevant suppliers and smelters or refiners. Pursuant to this plan, we establish a timeline and monitoring program to address any supplier whose response contained red flags or whose response was otherwise determined to be unsuitable. An action plan to address the risk is then executed with the supplier and internal stakeholders, which may include reaching out and working directly or indirectly with the supplier, smelter, customer or other companies within industry working groups to mitigate the risk. We subsequently follow-up with the supplier to review the implementation of the action plan until the smelter is returned to conformant status by the RMI or until all impacted suppliers have responded. The findings of our compliance efforts in 2023 were also reported to senior personnel at our Company, including leadership for our 3TG compliance program, and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.

 

  b.

We have written risk management procedures, pursuant to which we sent requests to higher management levels in certain suppliers’ organizations where it was deemed advisable to encourage them to respond to our inquiries and to help incentivize suppliers to cooperate with our requests. Our risk management procedures provide for increasing levels of escalation to specified internal personnel and allow for a flexible response that is commensurate with the risks identified.

 

  c.

To the extent that identified smelters and refiners were, according to the RMI information, neither conformant nor active, we worked through the RMI’s SETs to encourage such smelters and refiners to become conformant, except where the smelters or refiners have, according to the RMI information, permanently or temporarily ceased operations.

 

  d.

As part of our participation in RMI’s SETs, we worked together with RMI and other RMI member companies and determined the single point of contact with certain smelters and refiners, and in such role we reached out to certain of our existing tungsten and tantalum smelters to encourage them to continue participating in independent third party audits under the RMI program.

 

  e.

We utilize information provided by the RMI to its members to monitor smelter and refiner improvement. We urge our suppliers to transition to exclusively sourcing from conformant smelters and refiners and monitored their progress toward that objective.

 

  4.

OECD Step #4: Carry out independent third-party audits of supply chain due diligence at identified points in the supply chain

 

  a.

In connection with our due diligence, we utilize and rely on information made available by the RMI concerning independent third-party audits of smelters and refiners to assess smelter and refiner due diligence and to determine whether the smelter or refiner is conformant.

 

  b.

We also support independent third-party audits of smelters and refiners through our membership in the RMI. In addition, certain of our personnel were members of or participated in various RMI committees, including the SETs. We also directly or indirectly engaged with 42 smelters or refiners in our supply chain and urged them to participate in a Responsible Mineral Assurance Process program.

 

  5.

OECD Step #5: Report annually on supply chain due diligence

Each year, we file a Form SD and, to the extent applicable, a Conflict Minerals Report, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and make them available on our website at: https://investor.wdc.com/financial-information/sec-filings. We also publish an annual Sustainability Report, which can be found on our investor relations website. The Sustainability Report is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this Conflict Minerals Report.

 

6


Product Information

For 2023, our in-scope product categories were: (1) hard disk drives; (2) solid-state drives; (3) NAND-flash storage devices; (4) direct attached storage solutions; (5) personal cloud network attached storage solutions; and (6) public and private cloud data center storage solutions. For a further discussion of our products, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. The information contained in our Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into, or a part of, this Conflict Minerals Report.

Results of Review

As described above, we conducted due diligence to determine the source and chain of custody of the necessary 3TG in our products. As part of that process, we actively surveyed our direct suppliers that we believed potentially supplied us with products, materials or components containing necessary 3TG during 2023 and requested that they disclose the smelters and refiners that processed the necessary 3TG in the products they supplied to us in 2023. For calendar year 2023, we received completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates from 100% of the suppliers surveyed.

Facilities Used to Process the Necessary 3TG in Our Products

For calendar year 2023, our suppliers identified to us the smelters and refiners listed on Annex A as those smelters and refiners that may have processed the necessary 3TG contained in our products. Of the 221 smelters and refiners identified, 218 were identified by the RMI as “conformant” and 1 was identified by the RMI as “active” and 2 were identified by the RMI as “non-conformant”. These 221 smelters and refiners may not be all of the smelters and refiners in our 2023 supply chain because some of our suppliers were unable to identify all of the smelters and refiners used to process the necessary 3TG content contained in our products. Due to our position in the supply chain, which is discussed above, we rely on our suppliers for complete and accurate smelter and refiner information. Therefore, our due diligence measures cannot provide absolute certainty regarding the source and chain of custody of the necessary 3TG contained in our 2023 products.

The table below presents a summary of the smelter and refiner information contained in Annex A. Please see the notes accompanying Annex A for additional information relevant to the table below.

Smelter and Refiner and Country of Origin Information (1)(2)

 

     Conformant          
     Likely
Sourced
from
Covered
Countries
   Not Likely
Sourced
from
Covered
Countries
   Not
Disclosed
  

100%

Recycled
or Scrap

   Active    Non-Conformant

Tantalum

   12    20    0    1    0    0

Tin

   6    54    0    4    0    0

Tungsten

   4    27    0    1    0    1

Gold

   0    73    0    16    1    1

 

(1)

If a smelter or refiner sourced from multiple sources, it is included in the table under each applicable category.

(2)

Smelter or refiner status information can change at any time. The RMI-provided smelter or refiner status information in the table is as of December 31, 2023.

Country of Origin of the Necessary 3TG in Our Products

We attempted to determine the countries of origin of the necessary 3TG in our products in reliance on country of origin information for smelters and refiners made available by the RMI to its members. However, except for the DRC, the RMI does not name specific countries of origin of the 3TG processed by conformant smelters and refiners. Instead, the RMI indicates the smelter’s direct sourcing practice category. Annex B includes an aggregate list of the countries of origin from which these smelters may have sourced their 3TG, based on information provided by the RMI. Efforts to Determine the Mine or Location of Origin

 

7


We endeavored to determine the mine or location of origin of the necessary 3TG contained in our 2023 products by requesting that our suppliers provide us with a completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Template. Where a Conflict Minerals Reporting Template provided by a supplier identified a smelter or refiner, we also reviewed information made available by the RMI, to the extent available, to try to determine the mine or location of origin. Our suppliers’ responses and the RMI’s information did not provide sufficiently detailed information for us to determine the mine or location of origin of the necessary 3TG in our products for calendar year 2023.

Steps Taken and to be Taken to Mitigate Risk and Improve Due Diligence

Since the start of calendar year 2023, we have taken and currently intend to continue to take the following additional steps to mitigate the risk that the necessary 3TG in our products might benefit armed groups:

 

  1.

Further updated our reasonable country of origin inquiry and due diligence procedures to align with the latest revision of the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template.

 

  2.

Continued developing our program to utilize the RMI’s e-learning platform with selected suppliers to enhance their knowledge about responsible minerals practices.

 

  3.

Continued to update the conflict minerals portion of the supplier rating system used in our supplier business review to include recognition of suppliers that make conflict minerals policies publicly available to further disseminate responsible sourcing expectations throughout the supply chain.

 

  4.

Enhancing our compliance software program to incorporate Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry data to validate suppliers’ declarations in Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates.

 

8


Annex A

Capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined in this Annex have the meanings set forth in the Conflict Minerals Report of which this Annex is a part.

Smelters and Refiners

In connection with our reasonable country of origin inquiry or due diligence, as applicable, our suppliers identified to us the smelters and refiners listed below as those that may have processed the necessary 3TG contained in our products in 2023. Please see the notes that accompany the table for important information concerning the data in the table.

Smelter and Refiner Information (1)

 

Metal

  

Standard Smelter Name

  

Country

  

RMAP Audit
Status

Gold    Advanced Chemical Company    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Active
Tungsten    A.L.M.T. Corp.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Abington Reldan Metals, LLC    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Agosi AG    GERMANY    Conformant
Gold    Aida Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex (AMMC)    UZBEKISTAN    Conformant
Tin    Alpha    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tantalum    AMG Brasil    BRAZIL    Conformant
Gold    AngloGold Ashanti Corrego do Sitio Mineracao    BRAZIL    Conformant
Gold    Argor-Heraeus S.A.    SWITZERLAND    Conformant
Gold    Asahi Pretec Corp.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Asahi Refining Canada Ltd.    CANADA    Conformant
Gold    Asahi Refining USA Inc.    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Asaka Riken Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tungsten    Asia Tungsten Products Vietnam Ltd.    VIET NAM    Conformant
Gold    Aurubis AG    GERMANY    Conformant
Tin    Aurubis Beerse    BELGIUM    Conformant
Tin    Aurubis Berango    SPAIN    Conformant
Gold    Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines)    PHILIPPINES    Conformant
Gold    Boliden Ronnskar    SWEDEN    Conformant
Gold    C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG    GERMANY    Conformant
Gold    CCR Refinery—Glencore Canada Corporation    CANADA    Conformant
Tantalum    Changsha South Tantalum Niobium Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Chenzhou Yunxiang Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Chifeng Dajingzi Tin Industry Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Chimet S.p.A.    ITALY    Conformant
Tungsten    China Molybdenum Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    China Tin Group Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant

 

A-1


Gold    Chugai Mining    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    CRM Fundicao De Metais E Comercio De Equipamentos Eletronicos Do Brasil Ltda    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tin    CRM Synergies    SPAIN    Conformant
Tungsten    Cronimet Brasil Ltda    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tin    CV Ayi Jaya    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    CV Venus Inti Perkasa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tantalum    D Block Metals, LLC    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Dowa    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    Dowa    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    DS Myanmar    MYANMAR    Conformant
Gold    DSC (Do Sung Corporation)    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Gold    Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. East Plant    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. North Plant    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. West Plant    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    EM Vinto    BOLIVIA (PLURINATIONAL STATE OF)    Conformant
Tin    Estanho de Rondonia S.A.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tantalum    F&X Electro-Materials Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Fabrica Auricchio Industria e Comercio Ltda.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tin    Fenix Metals    POLAND    Conformant
Tantalum    FIR Metals & Resource Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Fujian Xinlu Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Ganzhou Haichuang Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Ganzhou Jiangwu Ferrotungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Ganzhou Seadragon W & Mo Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Geib Refining Corporation    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tin    Gejiu Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    Global Advanced Metals Aizu    JAPAN    Conformant
Tantalum    Global Advanced Metals Boyertown    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tungsten    Global Tungsten & Powders LLC    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Gold by Gold Colombia    COLOMBIA    Conformant
Gold    Gold Refinery of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Guangdong Hanhe Non-Ferrous Metal Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Guangdong Xianglu Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH    GERMANY    Conformant
Gold    Heimerle + Meule GmbH    GERMANY    Conformant
Tantalum    Hengyang King Xing Lifeng New Materials Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Heraeus Germany GmbH Co. KG    GERMANY    Conformant
Gold    Heraeus Metals Hong Kong Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Hubei Green Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    HuiChang Hill Tin Industry Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Hunan Chenzhou Mining Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Hunan Shizhuyuan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. Chenzhou Tungsten Products Branch    CHINA    Conformant

 

A-2


Gold    Inner Mongolia Qiankun Gold and Silver Refinery Share Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Ishifuku Metal Industry Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Istanbul Gold Refinery    TURKEY    Conformant
Gold    Italpreziosi    ITALY    Conformant
Gold    Japan Mint    JAPAN    Conformant
Tungsten    Japan New Metals Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tungsten    Jiangwu H.C. Starck Tungsten Products Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    Jiangxi Dinghai Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Jiangxi Gan Bei Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Jiangxi New Nanshan Technology Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Jiangxi Tonggu Non-ferrous Metallurgical & Chemical Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    Jiangxi Tuohong New Raw Material    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Jiangxi Xinsheng Tungsten Industry Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Jiangxi Yaosheng Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    JiuJiang JinXin Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    Jiujiang Tanbre Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    Jiujiang Zhongao Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    JX Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Kazzinc    KAZAKHSTAN    Conformant
Tantalum    KEMET de Mexico    MEXICO    Conformant
Tungsten    Kennametal Fallon    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tungsten    Kennametal Huntsville    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Kennecott Utah Copper LLC    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    KGHM Polska Miedz Spolka Akcyjna    POLAND    Conformant
Gold    Kojima Chemicals Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Korea Zinc Co., Ltd.    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Tungsten    Lianyou Metals Co., Ltd.    TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA    Conformant
Gold    L’Orfebre S.A.    ANDORRA    Conformant
Gold    LS MnM Inc.    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Gold    LT Metal Ltd.    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Tin    Luna Smelter, Ltd.    RWANDA    Conformant
Tin    Magnu’s Minerais Metais e Ligas Ltda.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tin    Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC)    MALAYSIA    Conformant
Tungsten    Malipo Haiyu Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Masan High-Tech Materials    VIET NAM    Conformant
Gold    Materion    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tantalum    Materion Newton Inc.    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Matsuda Sangyo Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Metal Concentrators SA (Pty) Ltd.    SOUTH AFRICA    Conformant
Tin    Metallic Resources, Inc.    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant

 

A-3


Tantalum    Metallurgical Products India Pvt., Ltd.    INDIA    Conformant
Gold    Metalor Technologies (Hong Kong) Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Metalor Technologies (Singapore) Pte., Ltd.    SINGAPORE    Conformant
Gold    Metalor Technologies (Suzhou) Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Metalor Technologies S.A.    SWITZERLAND    Conformant
Gold    Metalor USA Refining Corporation    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Metalurgica Met-Mex Penoles S.A. De C.V.    MEXICO    Conformant
Tin    Mineracao Taboca S.A.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tantalum    Mineracao Taboca S.A.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tin    Minsur    PERU    Conformant
Gold    Mitsubishi Materials Corporation    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    Mitsubishi Materials Corporation    JAPAN    Conformant
Tantalum    Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    MKS PAMP SA    SWITZERLAND    Conformant
Gold    MMTC-PAMP India Pvt., Ltd.    INDIA    Conformant
Gold    Nadir Metal Rafineri San. Ve Tic. A.S.    TURKEY    Conformant
Gold    Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat    UZBEKISTAN    Conformant
Gold    NH Recytech Company    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Tungsten    Niagara Refining LLC    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Nihon Material Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tantalum    Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    NPM Silmet AS    ESTONIA    Conformant
Tin    O.M. Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd.    THAILAND    Conformant
Tin    O.M. Manufacturing Philippines, Inc.    PHILIPPINES    Conformant
Gold    Ogussa Osterreichische Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt GmbH    AUSTRIA    Conformant
Gold    Ohura Precious Metal Industry Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    Operaciones Metalurgicas S.A.    BOLIVIA (PLURINATIONAL STATE OF)    Conformant
Tungsten    Philippine Chuangxin Industrial Co., Inc.    PHILIPPINES    Conformant
Gold    Planta Recuperadora de Metales SpA    CHILE    Conformant
Gold    PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Aries Kencana Sejahtera    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Artha Cipta Langgeng    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT ATD Makmur Mandiri Jaya    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Babel Inti Perkasa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Babel Surya Alam Lestari    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Bangka Prima Tin    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Bangka Serumpun    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Bukit Timah    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Cipta Persada Mulia    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Menara Cipta Mulia    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Mitra Stania Prima    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Mitra Sukses Globalindo    INDONESIA    Conformant

 

A-4


Tin    PT Premium Tin Indonesia    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Prima Timah Utama    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Putera Sarana Shakti (PT PSS)    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Rajawali Rimba Perkasa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Rajehan Ariq    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Refined Bangka Tin    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Sukses Inti Makmur (SIM)    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Timah Nusantara    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Timah Tbk Kundur    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Timah Tbk Mentok    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Tinindo Inter Nusa    INDONESIA    Conformant
Tin    PT Tommy Utama    INDONESIA    Conformant
Gold    PX Precinox S.A.    SWITZERLAND    Conformant
Tantalum    QuantumClean    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Rand Refinery (Pty) Ltd.    SOUTH AFRICA    Conformant
Gold    REMONDIS PMR B.V.    NETHERLANDS    Conformant
Tin    Resind Industria e Comercio Ltda.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tantalum    Resind Industria e Comercio Ltda.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Tantalum    RFH Yancheng Jinye New Material Technology Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Royal Canadian Mint    CANADA    Conformant
Tin    Rui Da Hung    TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA    Conformant
Gold    SAFINA A.S.    CZECHIA    Conformant
Gold    SEMPSA Joyeria Plateria S.A.    SPAIN    Conformant
Gold    Shandong Gold Smelting Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Shandong Zhaojin Gold & Silver Refinery Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Sichuan Tianze Precious Metals Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp.    TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    SungEel HiMetal Co., Ltd.    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Tin    Super Ligas    BRAZIL    Conformant
Gold    T.C.A S.p.A    ITALY    Conformant
Tantalum    Taki Chemical Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tantalum    TANIOBIS Co., Ltd.    THAILAND    Conformant
Tantalum    TANIOBIS GmbH    GERMANY    Conformant
Tantalum    TANIOBIS Japan Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tungsten    TANIOBIS Smelting GmbH & Co. KG    GERMANY    Conformant
Tantalum    TANIOBIS Smelting GmbH & Co. KG    GERMANY    Conformant
Tantalum    Telex Metals    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Tin    Thaisarco    THAILAND    Conformant

 

A-5


Tin    Tin Smelting Branch of Yunnan Tin Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tin    Tin Technology & Refining    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Tokuriki Honten Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Gold    TOO Tau-Ken-Altyn    KAZAKHSTAN    Conformant
Gold    Torecom    KOREA, REPUBLIC OF    Conformant
Tantalum    Ulba Metallurgical Plant JSC    KAZAKHSTAN    Conformant
Gold    Umicore S.A. Business Unit Precious Metals Refining    BELGIUM    Conformant
Gold    United Precious Metal Refining, Inc.    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    Conformant
Gold    Valcambi S.A.    SWITZERLAND    Conformant
Gold    Western Australian Mint (T/a The Perth Mint)    AUSTRALIA    Conformant
Tin    White Solder Metalurgia e Mineracao Ltda.    BRAZIL    Conformant
Gold    WIELAND Edelmetalle GmbH    GERMANY    Conformant
Tungsten    Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten AG    AUSTRIA    Conformant
Tungsten    Xiamen Tungsten (H.C.) Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tungsten    Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    XIMEI RESOURCES (GUANGDONG) LIMITED    CHINA    Conformant
Tantalum    XinXing HaoRong Electronic Material Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Yamakin Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tantalum    Yanling Jincheng Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Yokohama Metal Co., Ltd.    JAPAN    Conformant
Tin    Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Zhongyuan Gold Smelter of Zhongjin Gold Corporation    CHINA    Conformant
Gold    Bangalore Refinery    INDIA    Non Conformant
Tungsten    Hunan Jintai New Material Co., Ltd.    CHINA    Non Conformant

 

(1)

We note the following in connection with the information contained in the foregoing table:

 

  (a)

The smelters and refiners listed in the table were identified by our suppliers as those that may be part of our 2023 supply chain, including those that sourced only recycled or scrap content. Some of our suppliers may have reported to us smelters and refiners that were not actually in our supply chain due to over-inclusiveness in the information received from their suppliers or for other reasons. In addition, the smelters and refiners reflected above may not be all of the smelters and refiners in our 2023 supply chain, because many of our suppliers were unable to identify all of the smelters and refiners used to process the necessary 3TG content contained in our products.

 

  (b)

The table only includes entities that were identified by our suppliers as those that may be part of our 2023 supply chain and that were listed as smelters or refiners by the RMI, as of December 31, 2023.

 

  (c)

Smelter or refiner status information can change at any time. The smelter or refiner status information in the table is provided by RMI and is as of December 31, 2023.

 

  (d)

“Conformant” means that a smelter or refiner was listed as conformant with the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process’s (“RMAP”) assessment protocols, including through mutual recognition and those indicated as “re-audit in process.” Included smelters and refiners were not necessarily conformant for all or part of 2023 and may not continue to be conformant for any future period. We do not have information on the origin of the 3TG processed by any of the conformant smelters and refiners prior to their respective certification dates.

 

A-6


  (e)

“Active” means that the smelter or refiner is a participant in the RMAP and has committed to undergo an audit or is participating in a cross-recognized certification program.

 

  (f)

“Non-conformant” means that a smelter meets the definition of a smelter or refiner, is identified as an eligible smelter, has been audited but found not conformant under the RMAP standard, and is included in the CMRT Standard Smelter List.

 

  (g)

Smelter or refiner status reflected in the table is based solely on information made publicly available by the RMI, without independent verification by us.

 

A-7


Annex B

Possible Countries of Origin:

This list of potential countries of origin is populated based on information available from the RMI. It is important to note that it is not certain which of these countries of origin can be linked to our products.

Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

 

B-1