On August 22, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a final rule implementing disclosure and reporting requirements regarding the use by issuers of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries (collectively, the “Covered Countries”). Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) added Section 13(p) to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), which required the SEC to issue rules regarding conflict minerals disclosure. Issuers whose products do not contain any conflict minerals are not subject to these new disclosures.

“Conflict minerals” are defined to include gold, cassiterite (the metal ore used to produce tin), columbite-tantalite (the metal ore from which tantalum is extracted) and wolframite (the metal ore used to produce tungsten), their derivatives, or any other minerals or their derivatives determined by the US Secretary of State to be financing conflict in the Covered Countries. In addition to the DRC, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are currently included as Covered Countries.