The Copper Mark, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), ICMM and the World Gold Council (WGC) have published a draft consolidated standard that would tackle a wide range of topics related to responsible mining practices.
“The growing demand for responsibly sourced metals and minerals has led to a proliferation of standards that help companies demonstrate their commitment to responsible practices. However, this has also led to a complex and sometimes confusing landscape of standards for customers, communities, investors and other stakeholders,” the website of the initiative reads.
“Our vision is for a sustainable society, enabled by the responsible production, sourcing, and recycling of metals and minerals. Through this Initiative, we are aiming to simplify the current mining standards landscape and promote continual improvement of environmental, social and governance practices along individual metals’ and minerals value chains.”
The aim of the new global standard is to be adopted by a wide range of mining companies across all commodities and locations to promote performance improvement at scale. Once finalized, the standard is expected to be used by existing members of ICMM, World Gold Council and Mining Association of Canada, and participants of The Copper Mark.
This broad adoption would give the standard the widest coverage of any voluntary mining standard to date with implementation anticipated to include almost 100 mining companies across approximately 600 facilities in around 60 countries, the trade bodies claim.
The draft standard includes implementation of a grievance mechanism and each of its 24 performance areas has foundational, good and leading practice levels.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished
