The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) is pleased to announce that the French miner Eramet has committed to a third-party independent assessment of its Grande Côte Opérations (GCO) site against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining. GCO is a Senegalese subsidiary of the Eramet Group that specializes in the recovery of ilmenite, leucoxene, rutile, and zircon. The mine and its two processing plants have been in service since 2014.

In making its own announcement, Eramet declared “After this first external audit in Senegal, Eramet aims to engage all its mining sites in this independent verification process by 2027.”

SCS Global Services, an IRMA-approved certification body, will be carrying out the assessment, which includes a desk review (stage 1) followed by an onsite audit (stage 2). After SCS’s draft audit report is reviewed by IRMA and GCO, GCO may release the report or has the option to take up to twelve months to implement a Corrective Action Plan before the audit firm assigns a Performance Level.

Stakeholder Engagement in the Assessment

Interested stakeholders and members of the public can sign up to receive updates about the GCO independent assessment (e.g., the timing of the stage 2 onsite visit, link to public summary of audit results). The Mines Under Assessment page of IRMA’s website will also provide up-to-date information on all assessments.

Mine site stakeholders are invited to submit comments to SCS Global Services regarding the social and environmental performance of the GCO mine (in particular, how the performance of the mine site measures against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining).

Stakeholders of the GCO mine may also contact SCS Global Services if they are interested in being interviewed as part of the assessment process.

Stakeholder comments and expressions of interest in being interviewed as part of the audit process can also be submitted by email or mail to:

SCS Global Services
2000 Powell St. #600 Emeryville, California, USA 94608
feedback@scsglobalservices.com

Please share this announcement, and feel free to contact SCS Global directly to provide names and contact information for other GCO stakeholders who may be interested in knowing about and participating in the mine site assessment process.

For more information

• On the GCO Mine Site Assessment, contact IRMA’s Director of Assurance: msmith@responsiblemining.net
• For general information on the IRMA mine site assessment and certification process, visit the IRMA website.
• Eramet/GCO: Press release and press kit announcing the audit
• IRMA: GCO independent assessment status page