Enhancements to Elm's Conflict Minerals Supply Chain Traceability Audits

Jan. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- The Elm Consulting Group International LLC (ELM) earlier this week launched of our Conflict Minerals Traceability Service in response to recent US legal and international economic policy developments concerning “Conflict Minerals”.  Conflict Minerals are defined by the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold and the ores from which these materials originate.

Today, ELM announces an enhancement to the Conflict Minerals Traceability Service.  We will be leveraging cutting-edge information technology through our relationship with Sentiment360, a leading Internet data monitoring and analytics company.  Using Sentiment360, ELM’s unparalleled depth of information review - far beyond standard data reviews - may yield critical insight into conflict mineral provenance.

Lawrence Heim, Director at ELM: “As audit activities get closer to the mining and exportation or the ore, concern increases over the veracity of the information.  These concerns have been expressed by the SEC, OECD and by trade associations developing conflict minerals traceability programs.  The public and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also have similar apprehensions.”

“In discussions with Sentiment360 soon after ELM broadcast information about our Conflict Minerals Traceability Service, we concluded there is an excellent fit for Sentiment360 in these audits,” Heim continued.

Scott Marticke, Chief Operating Officer for Sentiment360:  “Lawrence reviewed with us the audit frameworks and associated information needs for these complex audits.  It became clear that Sentiment360’s proven real-time data mining and analysis technology addresses specific concerns from many stakeholders on data quality/validity related to mineral sources.  We are excited to be working with ELM on this global issue.”

The emerging supply chain traceability frameworks present different standards and expectations. A high-level comparative analysis of various conflict minerals audit programs can be obtained from ELM by contacting Lawrence Heim at Lheim@elmgroup.com or calling 678-200-5220.



Sentiment360 is based in Atlanta and provides real time analysis of information trends across global Internet social networks, forums, Blogs, news, video and image sites.   They have been engaged by Fortune 500 companies and US governmental agencies to scour online and internal documents and monitor/analyze online conversations.  Contact Scott Marticke, COO, at (404) 920-4687, or visit us on the web at www.sentiment360.com.

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Founded in 2001, THE ELM CONSULTING GROUP INTERNATIONAL LLC is a specialty health, safety, environmental and sustainability management services firm with 5 offices in the United States, as well as offices in Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, New Zealand, Indonesia, an exclusive joint venture in China and a network of over 100 hand-selected affiliates in 22 other countries. To maintain our independence as auditors, our services are focused on audit program development and execution, and we maintain various third-party HSE and management systems auditor certifications in the US and abroad.