PGMs

Rustenburg. Credit: Sibanye-StillwaterRustenburg. Credit: Sibanye-StillwaterAudits

Follow Up Audit at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Rustenburg this August

4 July 2025By

From IRMA approved independent auditor ERM CVS:

ERM CVS to Conduct a Follow Up IRMA Assessment of Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Operations

ERM CVS Seeks Input from Local Community and Other Stakeholders

Today, 4 July 2025, ERM CVS announces that on 4-8 August 2025, auditors will visit the Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg operations, located in the Rustenburg local municipality, South Africa. This is an extension of the independent, third-party audit initiated in November 2024 against the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) standard.

During this August 2025 audit extension, ERM CVS will be collecting feedback from local stakeholders – anyone directly or indirectly affected by the mine — including community members, mine workers, and government officials. Feedback can be provided on all of Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg operations, including the Kroondal operations, which will be a special focus. The ERM CVS team will also inspect the operation and its associated facilities.

When the audit is finished, an IRMA assessment results in a public audit report released locally and on the internet. This report will describe how ERM CVS scored Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Operations against each of the 400+ requirements of the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining, and why ERM CVS gave Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Operations that score. The report will also assign an overall achievement level: IRMA Transparency, IRMA 50, IRMA 75, or IRMA 100.

Sibanye-Stillwater can use this information about the environmental and social impacts of the Rustenburg operations, inclusive of Kroondal, to improve its practices. Other stakeholders, particularly affected communities, may use this audit report to engage with Sibanye-Stillwater and others on a more equal footing to improve the operation in the ways that matter most to them.

4 – 8 August 2025

Your comments will help ERM CVS assess the impact of Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg Operations, inclusive of Kroondal, on local communities and measure its performance against best mining practices. ERM CVS invites you to sign-up for an interview with auditors during the onsite audit, and/or submit written comments to the auditors about Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg operations using the contact details below.

You must contact us before 28 July 2025 to be interviewed. Written comments submitted before 15 August 2025 will be incorporated into the results of this audit.
On the web:

erm.com/ermcvs/services/sector-specific-certification-schemes/irma-stakeholder-feedback-form/

Email: post@ermcvs.com 

Telephone: +27 10 596 3740

QR code to access online form:

ERM CVS IRMA feedback form english QR code
Interviews with members of the community occur without mine personnel present. Interviews with non-management workers occur without management present and can be scheduled to occur offsite on request. ERM CVS protects the identity of individual commenters although the general nature of comments will be summarized in the report.

ERM CVS is an independent IRMA-approved and trained audit firm. For more about ERM CVS visit ermcvs.com.

IRMA’s mission is to protect the environment and people directly affected by mining. For more about IRMA including the assessment process, the IRMA Standard, and to see audit reports of other mines visit responsiblemining.net

To learn more about the Rustenburg audit and sign up for updates, visit the audit page: https://responsiblemining.net/rustenburg

For more information about the IRMA audit cycle, please visit the Independent Assessment Timeline page.

If you have concerns or complaints about the IRMA mine site assessment process or the IRMA Standard visit the IRMA Feedback and Complaints page.

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Anglo American MogalakwenaAnglo American MogalakwenaAudits

Anglo American’s Mogalakwena PGM mine completes IRMA audit

13 March 2025By

South African complex achieves IRMA 50 when audited against the world’s only equally governed mining standard

13 March 2025 – Today the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) released the audits of Anglo American’s Mogalakwena PGM complex against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining. Independent audit firm ERM-CVS assessed Mogalakwena at IRMA 50 when measuring its performance against the Standard’s best practice social and environmental criteria.

IRMA 50 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% 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 Mogalakwena audit page 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 steps in a deepening dialogue between mining companies and those affected by their operations. Because the process is still evolving, the results should be reviewed and interpreted accordingly.

“An increasing number of community members and workers are engaging in IRMA audits, and they’re using the audit reports to communicate directly with the mining company about their priorities for improvement,” Ms. Boulanger said. “If readers find results inconsistent with their experience, we encourage them to share their perspectives with IRMA and the company so that we can improve the audit review process and support continuing improvement at the site—as community members and NGOs have already done in this case.”

“We are always looking to improve not only mining practices, but also IRMA’s system. IRMA’s improvements, and being transparent about how we need to improve, is built into our system and a measure of its success,” said Ms. Boulanger.

Craig Miller, CEO of Anglo American Platinum said, “This milestone at Mogalakwena is significant in our overall adoption of IRMA. It enables us to promote transparency and best practice in sustainability, while adding value to our global customers by helping them meet the increasing expectations for responsibly mined materials in an efficient and credible way.  With IRMA 50, we have accomplished our sustainable mining plan target of having all our mining operations assured against a recognised responsible mining standard by 2025.”

Including Mogalakwena, 23 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).

For More Information:

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Audits

ArcelorMittal commits Andrade operation to IRMA audit

25 January 2024By

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) is pleased to announce that ArcelorMittal has committed to the third-party independent assessment of its Andrade iron operation in Brasil’s State of Minas Gerais against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining.

SCS Global, an IRMA-approved independent audit firm, will be carrying out the assessment, which includes a desk review (stage 1) followed by an onsite audit (stage 2). After the SCS draft audit report is reviewed by IRMA and ArcelorMittal, the company may release the report or has the option to take up to twelve months to implement corrective actions and be re-assessed before a final report is published and a Performance Level assigned.

Stakeholder Engagement in the Assessment

Interested stakeholders and members of the public can sign up to receive updates about the Andrade 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.

Members of the community, public officials, representatives of the workforce, or other organizations are invited to submit comments regarding how the mine site is managing their impacts to the environment including air, water, waste, greenhouse gases, and ecosystems; how the mine supports their workforce; and how the mine interacts with the surrounding community, and how it impacts the community, positively or negatively.

Interested parties may contact the independent audit firm, SCS Global, to share comments or to ask to be interviewed as part of the audit process. The audit firm can be reached via its webform.

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

For more information

  • For general information on the IRMA mine site assessment process, visit the IRMA website.
  • IRMA: ArcelorMittal Andrade Mine independent assessment status page
  • If you would like more information on how the audit of the Andrade operations are conducted against the IRMA standard — contact IRMA’s Director of Assurance: Michelle Smith, msmith@responsiblemining.net
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Sibanye-Stillwater logoSibanye-Stillwater logoAudits

Sibanye-Stillwater commits two operations to IRMA audit

16 November 2023By

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) is pleased to announce that Sibanye-Stillwater has committed to third-party independent assessments of two of its platinum group metals (PGM) operations against the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining: the Sibanye-Stillwater SA PGM Rustenburg Operations and the US (PGM) Operations. SA PGM Rustenburg Operations is located in the North West Province of South Africa and the US PGM Operations in the state of Montana.

ERM-CVS, an IRMA-approved independent audit firm, will be carrying out the assessment, which includes a desk review (stage 1) followed by an onsite audit (stage 2). After the ERM-CVS draft audit report is reviewed by IRMA and Sibanye-Stillwater, the company may release the report or has the option to take up to twelve months to implement corrective actions and be re-assessed before a final report is published and a Performance Level assigned.

Stakeholder Engagement in the Assessment

Interested stakeholders and members of the public can sign up to receive updates about the Sibanye-Stillwater independent assessments (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.

Members of the community, public officials, representatives of the workforce, or other organizations are invited to submit comments regarding how the mine site is managing their impacts to the environment including air, water, waste, greenhouse gases, and ecosystems; how the mine supports their workforce; and how the mine interacts with the surrounding community, and how it impacts the community, positively or negatively.

Interested parties may contact the independent audit firm, ERM-CVS, to share comments or to ask to be interviewed as part of the audit process. The audit firm can be reached by email at:

ERM Certification and Verification Services Limited
Email: post@ermcvs.com

Please share this announcement, and feel free to contact ERM-CVS directly to provide names and contact information for other Sibanye-Stillwater stakeholders who may be interested in knowing about and participating in the mine site assessment process.

For more information

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