Senior government sources told Bloomberg News that big efforts are being made to reassure consumers about the sources of tin ore and other minerals in DR Congo. Meanwhile latest export figures from North Kivu show that Malaysia and Rwanda are now the main intermediate destinations, accounting for 61% of shipments in January-February.

“We are going to identify every part of the supply chain until exportation,” Congolese Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said in an interview. One of five pilot trading centres will begin operations as early as May to restrict the flow of so-called conflict minerals into the legal mineral supply, he said.

The first of the trading centres, which are being developed by the ministry and the UN, will centralize trade from Congo’s largest cassiterite mine, Bisie, and implement the iTSCi tracking program, Paul Yenga Mabolia, the ministry representative in charge of coordinating diligence programs, said. Bisie, which accounts for about 70% of North Kivu’s cassiterite production, is on a forthcoming ministry list of “clean” mines that are acceptable for traders to buy from, Mabolia said.