LONDON, Oct. 16, 2024 -- The Copper Mark, Mining Association of Canada, ICMM and World Gold Council – Partners of the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) – have published a draft consolidated standard, governance model, assurance process and related reporting and claims policy, and encourage stakeholders to provide their views during a 60-day public consultation.

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The vision for the Initiative is for a sustainable society, enabled by the responsible production, sourcing and recycling of metals and minerals. Its goal is to simplify the current mining standards landscape and promote continual improvement of environmental, social and governance practices across metal and mineral value chains - from mining to smelting, refining and beyond.

The aim is for this Standard to be adopted by a wide range of mining companies – large and small, across all commodities and locations - to drive performance improvement at scale. An important feature of the Standard is that it is applicable to any facility, anywhere in the world that is committed to responsible practices.

Once finalised, 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 operations in around 60 countries. 

The draft Standard comprises 24 Performance Areas covering a wide range of topics related to responsible mining practices. The Standard builds on the attributes of the Partners' individual standards and each Performance Area has three levels: Foundational Practice (a starting position of conformance with minimum industry standards, which a facility can build on and improve  performance over time);  Good Practice (a level of practice in line with industry standards and international norms, frameworks and guidelines which all responsible mining companies should aim to achieve), and; Leading Practice (a level of practice which goes beyond good practice and demonstrates leadership or best practice which a minority of implementing companies would reach).

Stakeholders are also invited to provide their views on the proposed governance model, which envisions an independent entity that will oversee further development, promotion and maintenance of the Standard. It will implement the related assurance process, grievance mechanism and reporting and claims policy, and provide a platform for public disclosure of information such as outcomes of assurance.  This entity will be governed by a diverse, independent Board with equal participation of companies and individuals from stakeholder and rights holders' groups across the mining industry and wider value chain. This model will emphasise consensus-based decision-making.  It is the intention that The Copper Mark, including its Board, will transition and evolve into this independent entity.

The process has been guided by two advisory groups: one comprising industry representatives, and the other bringing together a diverse range of voices from stakeholders, including NGOs, investors, Indigenous groups, downstream customers and multilateral organisations. These groups have worked together and contributed their expertise to shape the draft Standard and multi-stakeholder oversight system.

The development of the consolidated Standard has been guided by ISEAL's Codes of Good Practice, involving a transparent process that includes two rounds of broad public consultation. The first consultation, launched today, will run online for two months, concluding on 16 December 2024. A shorter second consultation is expected in 2025. The consultation aims to encourage feedback from all parts of the globe with consultation documents available in Arabic, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish.

Notes to Editor:

About the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative

The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) is a collaboration between The Copper Mark, ICMM, Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and World Gold Council (WGC)to consolidate their four different responsible mining standards into one global Standard and multi-stakeholder oversight system.  The 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' value chains.

About the four partner organisations

ICMM

ICMM stands for mining with principles. We bring together a third of the global metals and mining industry, along with key partners to drive leadership, action and innovation for sustainable development, ultimately delivering a positive contribution to society. Through collaboration, ICMM member companies set the standard for responsibly produced minerals and metals in a safe, just and sustainable world.

Mining Association of Canada

The Mining Association of Canada is the national organisation for the Canadian mining industry. Its members account for most of Canada's production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical coal, mined oil sands and industrial minerals and are actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication. The Mining Association developed the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, which includes a site level assessment and independent assurance system — evaluating a broad range of ESG performance areas — overseen by independent national stakeholder panels. TSM has been adopted by 12 other national mining associations around the world.

The Copper Mark

The Copper Mark is the leading independent assurance framework that promotes responsible practices in the copper, molybdenum, nickel and zinc industries, focusing on environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance. The Copper Mark uses a rigorous site-level assessment process to independently verify whether individual sites have responsible production practices. 38% of globally mined copper is currently produced by Copper Mark-assured sites.

The World Gold Council

World Gold Council is a membership organisation that champions the role gold plays as a strategic asset, shaping the future of a responsible and accessible gold supply chain. Their team of experts builds understanding of the use case and possibilities of gold through research, analysis, commentary, and insights. They drive industry progress, shaping policy and setting the standards for a perpetual and sustainable gold market.

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