This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Privacy Overview
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
Cookie Policy
More information about our Cookie Policy
Comments
Inform the UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals
This July IRMA participated in the first in-person meeting of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The panel is charged with developing “a set of global and common voluntary principles on issues which are key to building trust between governments, communities and industry, enhancing transparency and investment and ensuring a just and equitable management of sustainable, responsible, and reliable value chains for terrestrial critical energy transition minerals.”
The work of the panel is a UN-wide effort with technical support from the UN Environment Program, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and other UN bodies.
Panel Timeline: April to September 2024
The panel is working under a tight timeline. UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the panel on 2 December 2023 at COP28 in Dubai. The panel was launched on 26 April this year and the first substantive panel meeting was held in a virtual format on 22 May.
Between the May and early July, panel members worked across four workstreams divided into four related topics:
Each workstream met twice in virtual formats to discuss and propose principles and recommended actions in preparation for the in-person 8-9 July panel meeting in Copenhagen. Prior to the Copenhagen meeting, a set of Civil Society Recommendations for the panel, supported by over 136 organizations around the world, was submitted to inform the panel’s work.
The last panel meeting will be held in person 20-21 August in Nairobi. The final panel report is to be submitted to the Secretary-General by early September 2024.
Opportunity to Submit Comments
On 2 July the UN published a panel background paper and opened a portal for public submission of comments to inform the panel. The portal will remain open through 30 July. We encourage you to submit comments and share the opportunity to do so with your networks.
IRMA also welcomes your recommendations regarding our engagement in the panel and any aspect of the panel’s work. Please contact us at contact@responsiblemining.net to inform this effort.
Useful Links:
Std 2.0 and Exploration, Development & Processing
The IRMA Draft Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing 2.0 incorporates the draft IRMA Standard for Responsible Mineral Development and Exploration (the ‘IRMA-Ready’ Standard – Draft v1.0 December 2021), the draft IRMA Standard for Responsible Minerals Processing (Draft v1.0 June 2021), and the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining 1.0 (2018) into one integrated standard that covers all phases and types of mineral development activities.
The 2023 proposed revisions for version 2.0 are meant to apply at any phase of the mineral development life cycle (e.g., exploration, project development, permitting, construction, mining and processing operations, reclamation and closure, post-closure).
To highlight and clarify those additions, we have released a summary of the draft Normative Requirements for those phases — where IRMA requirements are modified to govern stages of exploration, development or mineral processing. The IRMA Draft Standard 2.0 Normative Requirements for each chapter are provided and discussed in Appendix A.
In the context of this guidance document, a normative requirement modifies a given IRMA requirement from the IRMA DRAFT Standard 2.0 for a specific phase, by either replacing or supplementing the original text of this requirement. We use the terminology “normative requirements” here since they modify the elements that would actually be required and that auditors would measure against, not just guidance that helps to enrich or guide understanding of those requirements.
These Normative Requirements are part of the Draft Standard 2.0, so just as with the rest of the draft Standard, they are proposed and open for public comment until January 26, 2024.
Topic consultations for draft Standard 2.0
Over the next two months IRMA is hosting live, virtual consultations to discuss and comment on different topics covered by the Draft Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing 2.0. Facilitated by the IRMA Secretariat, these virtual meetings share what you need to know about the proposed changes and/or new areas in a specific topic inside the Standard (download or view specific chapters here). They will ask some guided questions where IRMA especially seeks feedback. And we encourage all comments — these Zoom sessions are meant to be inclusive and collaborative spaces for such discussion.
All consultations will be in English and last for 60 minutes. Registration is required, all times are UTC-0. Please register through the links provided below for any topics you might be interested in. NOTE: all consultations below are for the Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing. Visit the Chain of Custody Standard page for those webinars.
Water Management
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Sector-specific: Mineral Processing
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Gender Equality & Gender Protections
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Sector-specific: Exploration and Development
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Occupational Health & Safety
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Sector-specific: Mining Companies
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Waste & Materials Management (incl. tailings)
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Water Management
🔗 Presentation
GHG Emissions & Energy Consumption
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Land & Soil Management
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Indigenous Peoples & FPIC
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Occupational Health & Safety
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Management of Physical Stability (incl. tailings)
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Waste and Materials Management (including tailings)
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Planning, Financing Reclamation and Closure
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Management of Physical Stability (including tailings)
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Land Acquisition, Displacement, and Resettlement
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
GHG Emissions & Energy Consumption
Watch the recording
🔗 Presentation
Public Consultation Begins for Draft Standards
The Draft Standard for Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing is an update of the 2018 IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining – the strongest voluntary mining standard in the world, and the only one equally governed by a multistakeholder coalition. The updated draft:
The new Chain of Custody Standard Draft is designed to provide baseline requirements for tracing material coming from any IRMA-audited mine through the downstream processing of minerals into products, all the way to the end consumer.
Transparently reviewing and updating IRMA Standards ensures they are accountable to all sectors, stakeholders and Indigenous rights holders, and allows for the incorporation of changes in best practice to provide a global responsible mining benchmark. Reviewing every 5 years also complies with the ISEAL Standard Setting Code of Good Practice.
To provide comment, IRMA is reaching out to a wide and diverse set of stakeholders and Indigenous rights holders, including affected local communities, workers and their unions, nonprofit organizations, mining and minerals processing companies, purchasing and investment companies, governments and international organizations, scientists and researchers. Anyone can provide input. Comments will be confidential on request. All comments will be considered carefully – a summary of comments and IRMA’s responses will be provided after the consultation period ends.
Comments to ANSI re DIN ISO Sustainable Raw Materials Proposal
On 30 Jun, IRMA submitted comments to the American National Standards Institute regarding the DIN ISO Sustainable Raw Materials Proposal. Available here, the introduction is excerpted below: