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Update on Standard for Responsible Mining 2.0

2 May 2024By

As we announced back in October, IRMA is comprehensively revising the 2018 IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining (1.0). This revision process allows IRMA to:

  • Remain accountable to all sectors
  • Remain up-to-date with best practice
  • Add clarity and strengthen auditability
  • Add consistency, and
  • Fill in gaps

Seeking as much as possible to align with ISEAL’s Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems, this revision process is informed by:

  • 5 years of ongoing stakeholder engagement
  • Experiences from the initial IRMA third-party audits
  • Review of other standards and initiatives
  • Increased public awareness and evolving expectations of best practice
  • Review of emerging issues garnering international discussions
  • Changes to relevant legislation across the full scope of the standard
  • Comments on previous drafts (IRMA-Ready, Mineral Processing, Chain of Custody)
  • Targeted engagement activities on specific topics
  • IRMA Expert working groups, and
  • Public consultation

Unlike the Standard 1.0 which only covers mineral extraction operations, the  IRMA Standard 2.0 is expected to also cover development, exploration, and mineral processing: the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing. Separately we will launch a Chain of Custody Standard.

Public Comments Received for the 1st Draft of IRMA Standard 2.0

The 90 day public consultation lasted from October 26 through January 26. During that time we:

  • Hosted 2 introductory webinars attended by 150 participants
  • Hosted 20 live topic consultation webinars — across multiple time zones — attended by 180 unique participants
  • Received 2,500+ discrete comments from 82 organizations, and
  • Allowed for additional engagement and feedback outside the formal process

The sector and geographic distributions of these 82 commenting organizations are shown below:

Regions from which Standard 2.0 public comments were submitted

 

Sectors from which IRMA received public comments on Standard 2.0 draft

Of the 28 chapters in first draft Standard 2.0, the most-commented upon were (in alphabetical order):

  • Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Protected Areas
  • Community and Stakeholder Engagement
  • ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Management)
  • Fair Labor and Terms of Work
  • Gender Equality and Gender Protections (new)
  • GHG and Energy Consumption
  • Human Rights Due Diligence
  • Indigenous Peoples and FPIC
  • Occupational Health and Safety
  • Waste and Materials Management
  • Water Management

Public Comments Received for the second draft of the Chain of Custody Standard

A first draft was released for public comment in 2021. The 90 day public consultation for the second draft lasted from October 26 through January 26. During that time we:

Timeline

As included in the graphic below, the IRMA Secretariat is currently processing all the public comments received. Although subject to the approval of the IRMA Board of Directors, it is envisaged to release a 2nd draft for public comment in the second half of 2024. We hope to launch the actual Standard 2.0 – once approved by the IRMA Board of Directors – towards the end of 2024, thus triggering a transition period (duration to be decided and approved by the Board) between versions 1.0 and the 2.0 for all the entities and sites engaged (and seeking to engage) in the IRMA System.

Standard 2.0 revision timeline

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Sishen Mine. Credit: Anglo AmericanSishen Mine. Credit: Anglo AmericanAudits

Audits released for first African iron ore mines

5 April 2024By

Two Anglo American mines are first African iron ore operations audited against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining

Kolomela and Sishen achieve IRMA 75

UPDATED 5 April with recording of 4 April webinar

27 March 2024 – Today the Initiative for Responsible Mining (IRMA) released the audits of Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela and Sishen iron ore operations against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining. Independent audit firm ERM-CVS assessed both operations at IRMA 75 when measuring their performance against the Standard’s best practice social and environmental criteria. Kumba Iron Ore is an Anglo American subsidiary.

The IRMA 75 achievement level means that ERM-CVS verified that the operations at least substantially met all 40 critical requirements of the IRMA Standard, as well as at least 75% of the Standard’s criteria in each of the four principle areas: social responsibility, environmental responsibility, business integrity and planning for positive legacies. The full audit reports are available on the Kolomela and Sishen audit pages on the IRMA website.

“The information stakeholders need to decide what’s going well — and what may require more attention.”

“This report demonstrates that mines can point to transparent, independent evaluations of their environmental and social performance,” said Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director of IRMA. “Through detailed IRMA audit reports, mining companies, communities and companies that purchase mined materials can gain the information they need to decide what’s going well — and what may require more attention — at specific mines.”

As the IRMA Standard is recognized and adopted around the globe, these audits are first steps in a deepening dialogue between mining companies and those affected by their operations. Because the process is still evolving, IRMA cautions that the initial results should be reviewed and interpreted accordingly.

“These mines began audits during the early COVID years. The timeline was delayed by travel challenges, and then the company’s decision to use the optional corrective action period to make improvements. The public has long awaited opportunity to review the information included here, and we applaud Anglo American for volunteering these mines for audit against such comprehensive criteria.” Ms. Boulanger went on to say, “That said, the IRMA Standard is relatively new for companies that volunteer to be audited, and even our accredited auditors are still learning. The same is true for community members and workers who are interviewed as part of the process, some of whom may not yet feel comfortable engaging. So, the Amandelbult and Mototolo audits need to be read with this in mind.”

The report also provides an honest accounting of IRMA’s own progress as the Standard and assessment process continue to mature.

“If the results don’t fully reflect the experience of communities, Indigenous rights holders or other affected groups, we want to hear from them,” Ms. Boulanger said. “We’ll help them communicate with the company to better understand its performance, and with the auditors on any issues they feel were overlooked in the review. This is a cornerstone of our own commitment to transparency. We invite anyone who has criticisms of our work to join us in making it better. Finding ways to improve is built into our system — and a measure of its success.”

The IRMA Standard is being updated in 2024; input on how to improve the IRMA Standard is welcomed. Chapters in the IRMA Standard include requirements on protection to human rights, water resources, worker health and safety, biodiversity, Indigenous free, prior, informed consent and more.

“Committing to an IRMA audit reflects our desire to improve and our openness to dialogue”

Mpumi Zikalala, Chief Executive for Kumba Iron Ore said, “Our achievement of IRMA 75 for Kolomela and Sishen mines is testament to the hard work of our teams. The result is informed by evidence from a diverse range of stakeholders including employees, governments, NGOs, and communities alike. This invaluable input will drive our ongoing efforts to enhance sustainability performance. Achieving excellent results in IRMA audits serves as recognition and proof of our commitment to high standards, best practices, transparency and assurance.”

Including Kolomela and Sishen, 19 industrial-scale mines worldwide are within the IRMA independent assessment system. After an initial self-assessment, a participating mine engages a third-party audit firm — trained and approved by IRMA — to conduct a detailed independent evaluation, including on-site visits to the mine and nearby communities. Following the release of the initial audit, a shorter surveillance audit checks on the mine’s performance. Three years after the initial audit, the operation is fully audited again (Note: The first mines audited in the IRMA system have had extensions to this timeline due to Covid delays and launch-phase learning; updated full reviews will be required to maintain or increase achievement scores.)

The independent IRMA system is the only global mining standard that provides equal power to the public sector (communities and Indigenous rights holders, mine workers, and environmental and human rights advocates) alongside the private sector (mining companies, mined materials purchasers and investors).

Apr 4th Webinar Q&A

For More Information:

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ISO logoISO logoStandards

“Sustainable Critical Minerals Supply Chains” ISO Workshop

2 April 2024By

Share Your Experience: ISO Workshop on “Sustainable Critical Minerals Supply Chains” 16-17 April, New York City

RSVP with ISO for Virtual or In-Person Participation

IRMA is participating in a series of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) International Workshop Agreement (IWA) 45 sessions focused on “sustainable critical minerals supply chains.” ISO welcomes you to share your experience at the second session of IWA 45 this 16-17 April.

The series, hosted by Standards Australia, explores sustainability tools, guides, and frameworks available to “assist in improving an organization’s sustainability outcomes.” Following a first in-person only session held in Tokyo, Japan, the second IWA 45 session aims to broaden stakeholder engagement, including by enabling both in-person and virtual participation in the New York City session.

The IWA 45 series is important as it will inform the work of the ISO and the national standards bodies of its member countries, including, for example, work under ISO/PC 348 to specify criteria for sustainable raw materials from extraction to final product manufacturing.

For More Information:

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Mining Engagement with IRMA - March 2024Mining Engagement with IRMA - March 2024Mining

IRMA Mining Engagement – March 2024

27 March 2024By

As of March 2024, 82 mining companies are now engaged in IRMA representing 104 sites:

61 sites are self-assessing under the IRMA Standard (39 have made this public), the first step before an independent audit;

24 are piloting the draft IRMA exploration (IRMA Ready) or mineral processing standard self-assessments

19 are in the independent assessment system: 13 audits are underway (USA, South Africa, Senegal, Mozambique, Brazil, Chile, Argentina) and 6 completed audits have been published (Zimbabwe, Mexico, Chile)

They encompass 30 countries.

Details and maps of the mining sector’s engagement with IRMA are available here.

 

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Credit: Picryl.com under the Creative Commons licenseCredit: Picryl.com under the Creative Commons licenseBlog

Why IRMA doesn’t use the word ‘certified’

21 March 2024By

You may have noticed that IRMA no longer uses* the words certification or certified in its programs and materials.  Instead, we refer to independent assessment and IRMA achievement (e.g. IRMA 75).

This is intentional.

In our view, “certification” conveys the certifying institution’s approval of the audited company, site or product. Many view certification labels as intended to assure the buyer or end-consumer that they’re buying something which has been approved.

While this approach is simple to understand, widely used, and has a long history in the marketplace, we believe it’s not an appropriate approach for the complexity of mining operations and the scale of industrial mining’s impacts. Certification, in the sense that it signifies approval, often means vastly different things to those impacted by mining—whether mine management, mine workers, customers of mines, or communities living near mines.

Instead, we use a scoring tool to:

  • measure performance against a shared definition of best practices in mining;
  • create incentive for more transparent accounting of impacts and achievements;
  • welcome any operation, at any stage of their journey, to feel they can use the IRMA system to guide changes;
  • build value for continuing improvement; and
  • allow each stakeholder to make their own judgement about what the mine’s independently assessed performance against the IRMA Standard (its scoring as revealed in an IRMA audit report) means, instead of providing a proverbial stamp of approval.

An IRMA audit report offers readers not only an overall achievement level (IRMA Transparency, IRMA 50, IRMA 75, or IRMA 100; explained below) , but also provides scores for hundreds of requirements including the auditor’s rationale for assigning that score. This level of detail is key to:

  • ensure the audit reports can be used as a centerpiece for meaningful conversations, whether between communities and the mine, a mine’s customer and mine management, or any other constellation of interested parties; and
  • guide the mine on specific actions they can take to meet practice in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Because we know that some readers won’t study performance on each requirement and instead want a quick summary of performance we offer an overall achievement score.

  • IRMA Transparency is given to a mine site that is audited against the IRMA Standard, releases the subsequent audit report publicly, and doesn’t reach a higher achievement level.
  • IRMA 50 and IRMA 75 are achieved when a mine meets at least 50% or 75% average of the possible scores in each of the four main principles of the IRMA Standard (environmental, social, business integrity, and leaving positive legacies). In other words, a mine can’t score 100% in social chapters and 0% in environmental chapters and be IRMA 50; they need to achieve at least 50% average in each of the four principles.
  • Mines achieving IRMA 50 and above must also at least substantially meet 40 of the IRMA Standards requirements that are designated as critical. This helps to ensure that as we share these milestones of achievement in working toward best practices, sites with achievement levels don’t have significant issues like child labor or human rights abuses.
  • An IRMA 100 mine follows all aspects of the IRMA Standard. Even at this level, IRMA doesn’t say the mine is “certified”, but provides the information stakeholders need to draw their own conclusions about the mine’s performance and impacts.

It is important to note that IRMA 100 originally signaled “IRMA certification” – and was written directly into specific points of the 2018 IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining. For example

2.2.2.2. “New mines shall not be certified [achieve IRMA 100] by IRMA unless they have obtained the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of potentially affected indigenous peoples.”

The 2024 update to the Standard will remove these “certification” references. It is further important to note that “certification” is this example is not equated with “assessed.” A mine can be assessed in IRMA, even if it has not obtained FPIC. The resulting scores will simply relay the details around this important aspect of a mine’s operations.

We continue to look for ways to evolve IRMA’s scoring system to provide clear and meaningful data on performance without oversimplifying the important details or risks.

* Although references to “certification” have been removed from IRMA website text (e.g. the Assessment page used to be the Certification page), the process is still underway for PDF documents.

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Credit: Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4freeCredit: Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4freeStandards

The IRMA Standards revision — an update

29 February 2024By

IRMA would like to warmly thank all the people who have participated in the public-comment period that ended on 26 January to inform the revision of our Standards.

Through our live consultation webinars, our online platform, and direct engagement, we have collected about 2,000 individual lines of comments, submitted by more than 80 organizations spread across all continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Australia).

Building upon 5 years of implementation, learning, and continuous stakeholder engagement on the Standard, the IRMA Secretariat is now consolidating and processing all these comments and recommendations. Additional Expert Working Groups are being convened where necessary.

Subject to the approval of IRMA’s equally-governed multi-stakeholder Board, we hope to launch the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing V2.0  before the end of the year, together with a public report on the comment period and the rationale for the final changes made and approved. We hope to also launch the IRMA Chain of Custody Standard this year, also subject to Board’s approval.

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Panelists at IRMA Breakfast Side Event. Photo: IndustriALL Global UnionPanelists at IRMA Breakfast Side Event. Photo: IndustriALL Global UnionAfrica

IRMA at Mining Indaba and Alternative Mining Indaba 2024

28 February 2024By

This February three members of the IRMA Secretariat participated in events in Cape Town at and around the Investing in African Mining Indaba and Alternative Mining Indaba. This was IRMA’s largest delegation to Indaba to date, an indication of the growing importance of these gatherings and the wide range of associated side events to IRMA’s mission and accountability across stakeholder sectors.

IRMA led a breakfast side event that incorporated opportunities for cross-sector sharing and featured a panel of Syrah Resources’ Agnaldo Laice, IRMA’s Kristi Disney Bruckner and Scott Sellwood, IRMA Board Member and IndustriALL Global Union’s Glen Mpufane, Anglo American’s Mahlogonolo Rangata, Mercedes Benz’s Johannes Danz, and Earthworks’ Vuyisile Ncube.

IndustriaLL Global Union members at IRMA breakfast. Credit: IndustriALL
IndustriaLL Global Union members at IRMA Mining Indaba breakfast.
Credit: IndustriALL

IRMA also partnered with IRMA-member Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) to host an interactive discussion at Alternative Mining Indaba on the role of standards and third-party assurance in promoting environmental and social governance. The discussion focused on how affected communities, NGOs, and organized labor have used the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining and IRMA audit reports, with small group discussions on the types of tools and strategies that would help participants make use of IRMA to protect their rights.

Davidzo Muchawaya, IRMA Regional Lead, Africa, introducing IRMA at IRMA/ZELA Alternative Mining Indaba Session
Davidzo Muchawaya, IRMA Regional Lead, Africa, introducing IRMA at IRMA/ZELA Alternative Mining Indaba Session

This year, joining long-standing participation from mining companies, the presence of purchasing companies was more prominent at Indaba, including multiple members of the IRMA Buyer’s Group calling for more responsible mineral supply chains and engagement in IRMA.

IRMA attended a wide range of events and held meetings with government, company, investor, purchasing company, civil society, and labor representatives. Indaba and Alternative Mining Indaba continue to be important forums for sharing IRMA’s value and deepening our accountability across sectors. We look forward to engaging in these important forums again in 2025!

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Credit: Rainforest Foundation NorwayCredit: Rainforest Foundation NorwayFinance

Investors managing US$2.7T identify IRMA as ‘Key Initiative’

28 February 2024By

Thirty investment institutions with over US$2.7 trillion in assets under management have endorsed a statement calling for responsible mining practices in the nickel supply chains of the electric vehicle industry, with new signatories still joining after the initial February 20 launch.   

Led by the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) and Rainforest Foundation Norway, the statement uniquely specifies the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) as key to advancing responsible nickel mining. 

Consistent with the IRMA Standard, the statement calls for upstream suppliers to commit to the adoption of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), independent third-party auditing, multi-stakeholder consultations, fair compensation to affected rights-holders, effective grievance procedures and a commitment to report publicly on the implementation of these actions. 

The list of signatories includes pension funds and asset managers well-recognized in the sustainable investing space including PGGM, Storebrand, and Triodos Investment Management.

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Credit: Dick Thomas Johnson-CCBY2.0Credit: Dick Thomas Johnson-CCBY2.0Standards

ISO, responsible mining, and multi-stakeholder engagement

21 February 2024By

As the ISO takes on important work on responsible mining, IRMA restates the importance of inclusive and meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement

On 15-16 February 2024 in Tokyo, Japan, IRMA participated in the first working session of the ISO IWA 45, an international working agreement on “sustainable critical mineral supply chains.” This project is led by Standards Australia (Australia’s national standardization body) under the auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is tasked to “understand the range of sustainability tools/guides/frameworks available which will assist in improving an organization’s sustainability outcomes.” ISO is a quasi-governmental organization dedicated to standard development, headquartered in Switzerland and composed of the national standards bodies of its member countries.

This workshop was an in-person-only event which, while providing constructive opportunity for people to connect directly, dramatically reduced the number and diversity of stakeholders affected by mining and mineral value chains to participate. There were about 45 participants, with a majority from industry (mining and mineral processing) and consultants to the private sector, followed by government delegations (including national standardization bodies and state agencies or research institutions). The most represented countries were the United States, Canada, China, and Japan.

Articulating the perspectives of our members from six houses—affected communities, downstream purchasers, investment and finance, mining industry, NGOs, and organized labor—IRMA worked actively in the session to integrate the perspectives of civil society and organized labor, as those groups were not in attendance. We are concerned about how their absence might leave a significant gap in this process and encourage the event organizers to increase this outreach.

The working session opened with a summary of the results obtained from a preliminary survey circulated by Standards Australia in January 2024. Of the 115 full responses received, two-thirds came from the mining and mineral processing industry, 7% from NGOs, and 7% from academia. Most of the responses originated from China and Canada (over 10%), followed by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Germany, South Africa, and Sweden; other countries were all under 3%.

Given the survey feedback was foremost from industry, the main insights shared by the workshop organizer reflected the positions of industry representatives who engaged in the survey, including the “proliferation,” “overlap,” and “inefficiency” of sustainability standards, the “confusion” they would create, and the “burden” created by assurance mechanisms that would be “significant, costly, and time-consuming”.

It is worth noting that IRMA has never heard civil society or mine workers complain that “assurance processes are too expensive,” but rather that they see need for increased investment in transparent sharing of information on performance and for improved practices. We hope that Standards Australia will be able to soon provide a breakdown of the responses by stakeholder groups and increase outreach to civil society, Indigenous rights holders, and labor leaders.

IRMA emphasized throughout the workshop the importance of inclusive and meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement for ISO to ensure robustness and credibility in its processes and its efforts to standardize responsible business practice. A number of other participants similarly asked for more proactive and targeted outreach to all stakeholder groups. The issue of inclusive and meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement was then selected by the organizer as the final topic for plenary discussion.

As currently designed, IWA and ISO processes, including IWA 45, are not inclusive for affected communities, NGOs, and organized labor, and do not allow for meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement. We ask that this fundamental gap be identified as the top priority in the final report that will be produced by Standards Australia this year, including as a key recommendation to inform the other ongoing ISO committees and workstreams on responsible mining and sustainable mineral value chains.

 

Photo credit: Dick Thomas Johnson CCBY2.0

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Amandelbult PGM Complex. Credit: Anglo AmericanAmandelbult PGM Complex. Credit: Anglo AmericanAudits

Audits released for Anglo’s Amandelbult, Mototolo, Unki

16 February 2024By

Two Anglo American mines are first South African operations audited against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining

Amandelbult and Mototolo achieve IRMA 50 and IRMA 75, respectively

UPDATE 28 Feb: Watch the audit report release webinar recording

16 Feb 2024 – Today the Initiative for Responsible Mining (IRMA) released the audits of Anglo American’s Amandelbult and Mototolo PGM operations against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining. Independent audit firm ERM-CVS assessed Amandelbult at IRMA 50 and Mototolo at IRMA 75 when measuring their performance against the Standard’s best practice social and environmental criteria.

IRMA also released the surveillance (interim) audit for Anglo’s Unki PGM operation in Zimbabwe, as conducted by audit firm SCS Global. In 2021, Unki achieved IRMA 75 in IRMA’s first-ever on-site audit; a surveillance audit is a more limited check-in, so it does not result in further detailed scoring but rather provides updates on performance.

IRMA 50 or 75 means that ERM-CVS verified that the operations at least substantially met all 40 critical requirements of the IRMA Standard, as well as at least 50 or 75% of the Standard’s criteria in each of the four principle areas: social responsibility, environmental responsibility, business integrity and planning for positive legacies. The full audit reports are available on the Amandelbult and Mototolo audit pages, as well as Unki’s surveillance report, on the IRMA website.

“The information stakeholders need to decide what’s going well — and what may require more attention.”

“This report demonstrates that mines can point to transparent, independent evaluations of their environmental and social performance,” said Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director of IRMA. “Through detailed IRMA audit reports, mining companies, communities and companies that purchase mined materials can gain the information they need to decide what’s going well — and what may require more attention — at specific mines.”

As the IRMA Standard is recognized and adopted around the globe, these audits are first steps in a deepening dialogue between mining companies and those affected by their operations. Because the process is still evolving, IRMA cautions that the initial results should be reviewed and interpreted accordingly.

“These mines began audits during the early Covid years. The timeline was delayed by travel challenges, and then the company’s decision to use the optional corrective action period to make improvements. The public has long awaited opportunity to review the information included here, and we applaud Anglo American for volunteering these mines for audit against such comprehensive criteria.” Ms. Boulanger went on to say, “That said, the IRMA Standard is relatively new for companies that volunteer to be audited, and even our accredited auditors are still learning. The same is true for community members and workers who are interviewed as part of the process, some of whom may not yet feel comfortable engaging. So, the Amandelbult and Mototolo audits need to be read with this in mind.”

The report also provides an honest accounting of IRMA’s own progress as the Standard and assessment process continue to mature.

“If the results don’t fully reflect the experience of communities, Indigenous rights holders or other affected groups, we want to hear from them,” Ms. Boulanger said. “We’ll help them communicate with the company to better understand its performance, and with the auditors on any issues they feel were overlooked in the review. This is a cornerstone of our own commitment to transparency. We invite anyone who has criticisms of our work to join us in making it better. Finding ways to improve is built into our system — and a measure of its success.”

The IRMA Standard is being updated in 2024; input on how to improve the IRMA Standard is welcomed. Chapters in the IRMA Standard include requirements on protection to human rights, water resources, worker health and safety, biodiversity, Indigenous free, prior, informed consent and more.

“Committing to an IRMA audit reflects our desire to improve and our openness to dialogue”

Craig Miller, CEO of Anglo American Platinum said, “This significant milestone at Mototolo and Amandelbult mines in our overall adoption of IRMA enables us to promote transparency and best practice in sustainability, while adding value to our global customers by helping them to meet increasing expectations for responsibly mined materials in an efficient and credible way. With Unki mine achieving IRMA 75 in 2021, and now the achievements of Mototolo with IRMA 75 and Amandelbult with IRMA 50, we are continuing to make great progress towards our sustainable mining plan target of having all our mining operations assured against a recognised responsible mining standard by 2025.”

Including Amandelbult, Mototolo and Unki, 19 industrial-scale mines worldwide are within the IRMA independent assessment system. After an initial self-assessment, a participating mine engages a third-party audit firm — trained and approved by IRMA — to conduct a detailed independent evaluation, including on-site visits to the mine and nearby communities. Following the release of the initial audit, a shorter surveillance audit checks on the mine’s performance. Three years after the initial audit, the operation is fully audited again (Note: The first mines audited in the IRMA system have had extensions to this timeline due to Covid delays and launch-phase learning; updated full reviews will be required to maintain or increase achievement scores.)

The independent IRMA system is the only global mining standard that provides equal power to the public sector (communities and Indigenous rights holders, mine workers, and environmental and human rights advocates) alongside the private sector (mining companies, mined materials purchasers and investors).

Feb 27th Webinar Q&A

  • Speakers:
    IRMA Executive Director Aimee Boulanger,
    IRMA Africa Regional Lead Davidzo Muchawaya,
    IRMA Assurance Director Michelle Smith, and
    Anglo American Platinum Head of Sustainability Stephen Bullock
  • IRMA slides: http://responsiblemining.net/IRMAAmandelbultMototoloUnkiSlides
  • Anglo American slides: http://responsiblemining.net/AngloAmandelbultMototoloUnkiSlides


For More Information:

  • Alan Septoff, +1.301.202.1445, aseptoff@responsiblemining.net
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