Draft Standard 2.0

The comment period closed on 26 January 2024. Although subseqent comments can still be submitted, we do not guarantee they will be used in finalizing the Standard. For more information please contact our Standards Director Pierre Petit-De Pasquale: pdepasquale@repsonsiblemining.net. 

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Access Standard 2.0 resources, including full text of the Standard as PDF (in English or Spanish) or spreadsheet.

The entire 2018 IRMA Standard is being reviewed for improvement. That includes:

Integrating more aspects of mining operations:

• Mineral exploration and development
• Mineral processing

Developing or improving chapters on:

• Gender Equality / Gender Protections – NEW chapter requires development of a gender policy and assessment, management, monitoring and reporting on gender-related risks and opportunities
• Financial Transparency and Anti-Corruption – more detailed procedures and communication and reporting requirements
• FPIC and Indigenous Peoples – Revisions address the provision of more detail on the identification and avoidance of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation, clarifies requirements for existing mines related to FPIC (to address prior consent), more detail on what should be included in FPIC or remedy agreements and validation of agreements, addition of grievance mechanism accessible to Indigenous Peoples and developed in collaboration with them
• Physical Stability – NEW chapter includes enhanced design, quality control, monitoring, maintenance and oversight of facilities with high risks (“critical facilities”) and characterization of emission sources; incorporates Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM)
• Land and Soil – NEW chapter from draft Standard for Mineral Processing enhances requirements related to land and soil

Addressing individual topics, including:

• GHG emissions and energy
• Circularity
• Operational Health & Safety
• Responsible Sourcing
• Human rights
• Cultural heritage

Provide structural improvements to the standard, such as:

• Clarifying language and adding guidance based on experience from the first mines to be audited and feedback from local stakeholders and rights holders, NGOs, organized labor, investors, mining companies and purchasing companies.
• More consistent terminology throughout the standard

Access Standard 2.0 resources, including full text of the Standard as PDF (in English or Spanish) or spreadsheet.

Note: For the full text of disclaimers, please read the PDF of the DRAFT.

General Disclaimer

The DRAFT Standard for Responsible Mining and Minerals Processing (v2.0) is not a finished document, nor seeking final review, but rather is structured to invite a full range of questions, comments and recommendations to improve the IRMA Standard.

It has been prepared and updated by the IRMA Secretariat based on learnings from the implementation of the Standard (v.1.0), experience from the mines independently audited under Standard v1.0, evolving expectations for best practices in mining to reduce harm, comments and recommendations received from stakeholders and Indigenous rights holders, and the input of subject-specific expert Working Groups convened by IRMA in 2022-2023.

Expert Working Groups were created to catalyze suggestions for solutions on issues we knew most needed attention in this update process. They were not tasked to come to consensus nor make formal recommendations.

The DRAFT Standard 2.0 does not represent content that has been endorsed by IRMA’s equally-governed, multistakeholder Board of Directors. IRMA’s Board leaders seek the wisdom and guidance of all readers to answer the questions posed by this draft and inform this opportunity to improve the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining.

Disclaimer on Mineral Supply Chain and Responsible Sourcing, and Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Area Due Diligence

In the final version of the 2018 IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining there is no chapter that specifically addresses the sourcing of raw materials, given the focus is primarily on the extraction of raw materials. However, a chapter on Mineral Supply Chain and Responsible Sourcing was proposed as Chapter 1.6 in the 2021 draft IRMA Standard for Responsible Mineral Processing, given the importance of raw material sourcing at the processing point of the supply chain.

As part of the IRMA Standards Development Process, a draft chapter was submitted for Board’s approval (Chapter 1.XX). But the IRMA Board of Directors has not yet agreed on a set of criteria and requirements for such a chapter, and is proposing to convene an Expert Working Group to better elucidate current best practices and to help propose an approach that reflects those practices. The intention is that a draft chapter will be released separately for public consultation in the next few months.

Regarding Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRA), the revised Chapter is also under development, but a first draft is made available (Chapter 3.4) and IRMA welcomes comments on it. The IRMA Board of Directors has mandated the IRMA Secretariat convene an Expert Working Group on the subject.

One of the issues that will be considered in that working group is the possibility of combining a Responsible Sourcing chapter with the CAHRA chapter (since management of risks in CAHRA is a component of responsible sourcing). While dependent on the outcomes of this Working Group (and informed by the comments received during this public-comment period), it is anticipated that a second draft of the Chapter on Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Area Due Diligence will then be released separately for public consultation in the next few months.

Participate in an expert working group on these chapters

If you are interested in participating in an Expert Working Group on Mineral Supply Chain and Responsible Sourcing and/or Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Area Due Diligence, please contact IRMA’s Standards Director, Pierre De Pasquale.