One standard to rule them all: have your say
A draft standard covering all commodities, facilities and locations worldwide is out for public comment over the next two months.
Partners of the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) – ICMM, World Gold Council, Mining Association of Canada and The Copper Mark – launched their first public consultation yesterday and will run until December 16 this year.
Their vision is for a sustainable society, enabled by the responsible production, sourcing and recycling of metals and minerals.
The 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.
World Gold Council chief financial officer Terry Heymann comments on this.
“The new, consolidated Standard will create a simplified system that serves the needs of all stakeholders, sets a high bar for responsible mining, and drives continuous improvement across the entire mining and metals industry,” he said.
“The World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles raised the bar on standards for large-scale gold mining and we are now taking the next step toward a more trusted mining industry.
“This will support increased supply chain transparency, which is important for customers, investors and regulators.”
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 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.
A shorter second consultation is expected in 2025.