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A battered pickup truck pulling up to Huaying Trading's back street office in Goma is about all that remains of Congo's once-bustling resources business as an impending U.S. crackdown on so-called "conflict minerals" scares most buyers away.
Eight years after the formal end of a war that killed millions and drew in six other African countries, rebel groups and the Congolese army continue to battle for control of mine sites deep in the hills of eastern Congo.
For years, the conflict has been sustained by revenues from mines that in many cases are controlled by armed groups.
Now, a local industry that has long operated in a near legal vacuum is facing an onslaught of legislative and regulatory initiatives that could amount to a "kill or cure" treatment.
Last year's Dodd-Frank financial oversight law requires the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to write rules forcing companies to disclose whether they use minerals such as tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten from Congo.
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While it is unclear when the rules will be finalized or go into effect, firms such as Apple Inc and Hewlett Packard are not waiting to see the fine print.
They are no longer sourcing from the region, having launched in April their own industry drive against conflict minerals which anticipates much of the spirit of Dodd-Frank.
For now, only the Chinese has chosen to stay.
"Of 25 exporters that exist (in Goma), not more than three are operational, (all) belonging to Chinese. For China there is no problem, they continue to export to their country," local Congolese exporter Thierry Kituli Kaoma told Reuters.
The workers outside Huaying Trading say the sacks they are unloading contain cassiterite, an ore that yields the tin used as solder in devices such as portable phones and laptop computers. They say the shipment is from Walikale, an eastern mining area plagued by armed rebels.
Local representatives of Huaying Trading declined to be interviewed. But Goma mines authorities said Huaying, together with Chinese-owned TTT Mining and Donson International, were the only exporters who continued trading after the U.S. industry drive against conflict minerals.
TTT has recently suspended trading, they said, although the company declined to say why.
A BIG "IF"
Exports of cassiterite are now running at about 100 tons a month, a 90 percent fall on the volumes seen last year.
