Purchasers

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IRMA Buyers Group Statement

5 August 2025By

[this was also posted to IRMA’s LinkedIn]

IRMA Buyers StatementThe IRMA Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance Purchasing Sector members and Processors Working Group participants have been a driving force behind the scaling of IRMA at mine sites worldwide. Over the initial years of IRMA’s audit system, much has been learned about how customer expectations and requirements around IRMA are effectively communicated to suppliers.

💡 While every customer formulates their own policies and expectations of their suppliers, one common understanding has become clear: regardless of any specific achievement level a mine might reach in its first audit, the transparency, opportunity for engagement, dialogue, and continuous improvement offered by the IRMA process is what carries the greatest value.

📈 Beyond the audit and its outcomes, purchasers see IRMA as more than just an audit framework. It is a roadmap for operational excellence, a platform for positive stakeholder engagement, and a pathway to generating trust — all in service of reducing long-term negative impacts and supply chain risks.

🤝 In this general statement shared by the IRMA Buyers Group, what purchasers are saying to mines in their upstream supply chains is this — simply embarking on an audit is the most important first step.

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How IRMA Benefits Downstream Purchasers

20 January 2025By

A new resource for the downstream purchasing sector is now available on the IRMA website.

Downstream purchasers, as customers of mined materials, have a significant interest in how those materials are extracted and processed. Current and emerging regulations, as well as the expectations of consumers, investors, and affected stakeholders – as well as companies’ own business needs to address risk and build resilience – are driving companies to increase visibility over their supply chain and expect more responsible performance at every stage. By using IRMA, downstream purchasers can leverage a transparent and truthful story about the materials we rely on every day.

How IRMA Benefits Downstream Purchasers describes how IRMA provides a credible system for demonstrating that materials have been extracted to a widely accepted standard that meets a broad range of ESG metrics and safeguards, providing unprecedented visibility into individual mine performance. Included are IRMA’s benefits to purchasers and our value proposition.

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Purchasers

The EV revolution will take batteries, but are they ethical?

21 January 2020By

Up-and-coming IRMA positions itself as the most rigorous third-party mining standard to emerge. . . Microsoft, Tiffany and Anglo American are already IRMA members; BMW is the first carmaker to sign up.

Adria Vasil, Corporate Knights

 

“. . .The EV revolution has been racking up a whole supply chain of trouble around the globe (including a recent lawsuit) related to an onslaught of often-contentious new mines opening to meet surging battery-metal demand, not to mention the coming tide of e-waste from old batteries.

If we want to fix this before e-cars take over the roads (30% of car sales should be electric across the EU and North America by 2030, analysts forecast), the time to ensure it’s done right is now. A handful of companies are trying to get out ahead of looming environmental and social risks. . .”

 

Read the full Corporate Knights article >

Photo credit: Lithium mines in Chile, Open Commons.

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Purchasers

BMW Group joins the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance

10 January 2020By

BMW Group has become the first carmaker to join the global effort for the third-party certification of social and environmental performance at mine sites.

 

“Sustainability is an important aspect of our corporate strategy and we are fully aware of our responsibility in mineral value chains.” said Dr. Andreas Wendt, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for Purchasing and Supplier Network. “For the BMW Group and its stakeholders, it is of the utmost importance that environmental and social standards are adhered to throughout the entire value chain. Raw materials form the basis for every industrial production process and our need will continue to grow accordingly,” underlined Wendt. “We believe that IRMA, with its ambitious certification standard, will contribute to enhancing responsibility in global value chains and improving environmental and social performance.”

. . . “The auto sector is a powerful purchaser of materials that come from mines. We are happy to have the BMW Group join IRMA and we look forward to supporting their commitment to increasing environmental and social responsibility in their supply chains,” said Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director of IRMA.

Read the full article on miningglobal.com >

Photo credit: Andreas Riedelmeier from Pixabay.

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Mining

China, e-silk roads and a plea for change

22 August 2019By

The EV revolution is in its infancy, but it is gaining traction, and its minerals, whatever they are, will have to be mined responsibly.  

Author, John Harker

 

What if China, the EU, and North America co-operated to undertake a major survey of Responsible Mining and Rare-Earths? A survey in which major mining houses such as BHP, Glencore, and Anglo-American would have much to offer, especially as they are increasing or refining their own focus on “battery” minerals.

In fact, their involvement is key. They know the ups and downs in mining as the EV revolution unfolds. A year ago, Ivan Glasenberg, the CEO of Glencore, stressed that his company has “a key role to play in enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy”. This is true, but the company has seen its profits drop due in large part to its “battery minerals” business.

Anglo-American is the world’s largest supplier of platinum and palladium, which are essential to the smooth running of cars fueled by Petrol/Gas, and the company is now intent on developing a lithium battery which will use the platinum-group metals instead of cobalt and nickel.

The great mining houses are among the companies which created the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, a body which would also be a source of strength for any such survey.

Read the full article on Mining.com >

Photo credit: Electric taxi in Shenzhen, China. (Image: Brücke-Osteuropa | Wikimedia Commons.)

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Purchasers

Are There Potential Downsides of Going to 100 Percent Renewable Energy?

8 July 2019By

A new study looks at the danger to biodiversity that could come from increased mining of minerals used to create batteries for renewable energy technologies . . . EV and battery industry are urged to source from IRMA-certified mines.

Until recycled materials become a feasible alternative to mining, the researchers say, the industry will continue to mine new materials to meet the growing needs of the energy sector, and renewable energy companies will be on the hook for ensuring that their emissions-free technologies aren’t causing potentially irreversible environmental degradation.

“[The] best practice is to source metals through verified high-bar standards/certification schemes (such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) [rather than through] industry self-monitoring,” said report co-author Dominish.

According to the report summary, the EV and battery industries urgently need to take action to ensure sustainability in their supply chains, particularly for the sourcing of lithium, cobalt, and rare earth metals.

Access the full article in the Pacific Standard.

 

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Purchasers

Renewables promising for miners, but edge may go to most responsible operators

1 May 2019By

The rise of renewable energy to meet global climate goals could be a boon for global mining companies but new customers may also bring higher levels of scrutiny to corporate responsibility practices in the sector.

Increased production of renewable energy resources to meet the goals set out by the Paris Agreement on climate change is expected to drastically boost demand for valuable materials including lithium, cadmium, silver, rare earth metals, aluminum and copper. As demand rises, a growing number of stakeholders are calling for close attention to the environmental, social and governance practices of mining companies crucial to the renewable energy supply chain.

 

Read the full article on Market Insider —>>

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Purchasers

Tiffany brand launches new diamond sourcing initiative

21 January 2019By

Tiffany & Co, an IRMA founding member, to share diamond provenance with customers.

Leading American jeweler Tiffany & Co. announced a new initiative Wednesday to ensure transparency in its diamond sourcing. “Tiffany & Co. will begin sharing with our customers the provenance, meaning region or countries of origin, of our newly sourced, individually registered diamonds – a significant step for diamond transparency,” said CEO Alessandro Bogliolo, as the company launched the Diamond Source Initiative.

. . . Each Tiffany diamond is engraved with a tiny, invisible serial number using a laser. That helps to make it unique and traceable to each owner.

Andy Hart, the company’s vice president of diamond and jewelry supply, says the best way to ensure responsible sourcing is to know where a diamond came from.

. . . “We were early supporters of the Kimberley Process and helped found the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), an organization making significant strides in establishing global mining standards.”

Read full article >

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