Apple addresses concerns over products using illegally mined tin

First spotted by The Verge, Apple added a brief paragraph to its Supplier Responsibility webpage, explaining that "recent concerns" over illegal tin mining in Bangka Island, Indonesia called for a fact-finding visit to the region.

In addition, the company also set up a specialized environmental working group with the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) to deal with the issue. Apple is also helping to fund a new study on mining in the region to "better understand the situation."

The EICC's mission statement says the body was created to "enable companies to improve the social and environmental conditions in the global electronics supply chain." Members are required to comply with guideline set forth by the EICC bylaws.

According to Apple, 249 of its suppliers use tin in their products, which source the metal from 64 tin smelters. The company notes that the smelter list is constantly changing.

It is unclear what products contain the potentially illegally mined tin, though a bulk of Apple's devices contain the metal.