01:42 PM EDT, 04/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Apple ( AAPL ) has been asked by a group of lawyers representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo to address concerns about the company's supply chain due to the alleged use of conflict minerals in the production of devices, law firm Amsterdam & Partners said in a statement Thursday.

The lawyers, led by Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners LLP in Washington, DC, and William Bourdon of Bourdon & Associes in Paris, notified Apple ( AAPL ) Chief Executive Tim Cook about the concerns and wrote to Apple ( AAPL ) subsidiaries in France seeking answers within three weeks.

Amsterdam & Partners said it has been retained by the DRC to investigate the supply chain of the so-called 3T minerals - tin, tungsten, and tantalum - which are allegedly sourced from Congolese territory and illegally exported.

"The world's eyes are wide shut: Rwanda's production of key 3T minerals is near zero, and yet big tech companies say their minerals are sourced in Rwanda," the lawyers said in the statement.

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

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