Exhibit 1.01
Ball Corporation
Conflict Minerals Report
For the Year Ended December 31, 2023
Introduction
This Conflict Minerals Report (“CMR”) for the year ended December 31, 2023, is presented to comply with Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Rule”). The Rule was adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to implement reporting and disclosure requirements related to conflict minerals as directed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). The Rule imposes certain reporting obligations on SEC registrants whose manufactured products contain conflict minerals which are necessary to the functionality or production of their products. Conflict minerals are defined as cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, gold, wolframite, and their derivatives which are limited to tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (“3TG” or “Conflict Minerals”). The reporting and disclosure requirements apply to registrants whatever the geographic origin of the Conflict Minerals and whether or not they fund armed conflict.
Company Overview
This report has been prepared by the Company (herein referred to as “Ball,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). The information provided in this CMR includes the activities of all our majority-owned subsidiaries and variable interest entities that are required to be consolidated.
Ball supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage and household products customers. Our principal products include metal packaging for beverage and household products. In 2023, Ball also supplied components related to aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. In the third quarter of 2023, Ball entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (Agreement) with BAE Systems, Inc. (BAE) to sell all outstanding equity interests in Ball’s aerospace business. On February 16, 2024, Ball completed the divestiture of the aerospace business. This CMR includes information related to the aerospace components manufactured by Ball prior to the sale. We conducted an analysis of our products and found that some of our products contain Conflict Minerals that are necessary to their functionality or production.
Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry
In accordance with the Rule, we conducted, in good faith, a reasonable country of origin inquiry (“RCOI”) designed to determine whether any of the necessary Conflict Minerals in our products originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country (the “Covered Countries”) or were from recycled or scrap sources.
We used the Responsible Business Alliance’s (“RBA”) conflict minerals reporting template (the “Reporting Template”) to obtain sourcing information from our direct suppliers. Our RCOI included assessing the responses we received from our suppliers in accordance with our due diligence framework.
Based on our assessment of the responses from our suppliers, we have reason to believe that some of the necessary 3TG used in our products may have originated in a Covered Country and may not have come from recycled or scrap sources.
Due Diligence
1. | Design of Due Diligence |
Our due diligence program has been designed to conform in all material respects with the framework in The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict Affected and High Risk Areas, and the related Supplements for gold and for tin, tantalum and tungsten (the “OECD Guidance”). Ball took the following steps in accordance with our due diligence program: