About the Initiative
What is the Consolidation 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 different voluntary responsible mining standards into one global standard, accessible to any company with a commitment to mine responsibly. The global standard would be overseen by an independent, multi-stakeholder Board and underpinned by a robust assurance and audit process.
The initiative partners vision is for a less complex standards landscape 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.
Why are the initiative partners undertaking this work?
Responsible mining standards play an important role in giving stakeholders confidence that metals and minerals are being produced responsibly. Over the last 20 years we have seen a plethora of these mining standards being developed by a range of actors, including the Initiative partners.
This initiative responds to the clear signal the partners have received from investors, civil society, customers, policy makers and mining companies that the existing standards landscape has become too complex, and inconsistent for stakeholders seeking assurances that metals and minerals are being responsibly produced, and too challenging and distracting for operators.
Our vision is for a less complex standards landscape 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.
How will this proposed standard differ to existing standards?
This initiative aims to simplify the existing landscape by consolidating the best attributes of the RGMPs, ICMM’s Mining Principles, TSM and the Copper Mark into one standard. The four partners’ ambition is for the new standard to be mandatory for each of its memberships. This means it would have the widest coverage of any voluntary mining standard to date and would be implemented by at least 86 mining companies with around 700 operations in almost 60 countries worldwide.
The consolidated standard will be designed so that it can be applied by any mining company with a commitment to mine responsibly, anywhere in the world, regardless of commodity. We are aiming to develop a standard, governance model and assurance process that meets the needs of a wide range of stakeholders whilst having the potential to drive impact at scale.
Are owners of other responsible sourcing standards being engaged in this process?
Yes. We welcome the involvement of other standards owners, some of which sit on our Stakeholder Advisory Group. We will continue to explore ways to constructively collaborate to simplify the standards landscape. Additionally, the draft standard will be shared for public consultation allowing for other standard owners to share their feedback and engage with us directly during the process. We envisage a simplified standards environment, not a single standard landscape.
Who is involved in this process?
There are three key groups involved in the consolidation process:
- The ‘consolidation partners’ — ICMM, WGC, MAC and the Copper Mark. Experts within these organisations are leading the drafting the standard. The four partners are then governed by their four respective Boards.
- A Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) and Industry Advisory Group (IAG) — These groups include representatives from across key stakeholder groups including the mining industry, organised labour, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, environmental NGOs, investors, multilaterals, academia and downstream customers. Their role is to use their expertise to review, shape and inform the development of the standard, assurance process and governance model, reflecting a diversity of expert perspectives. Having a SAG and IAG deeply engaged in the standard’s development is fundamental to creating a standard that serves the needs of a wide range of stakeholders.
Find out more here.
Does this mean these advisory group members have ‘endorsed’ this process or the resulting consolidated standard?
No. Participation in the SAG reflects the desire to shape the process and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the outcomes. The partners will aim to achieve consensus support for each element of the standard from the SAG and the IAG prior to each public consultation phase. The partners will be transparent about any residual reservations or concerns members of the SAG and IAG may have at the end of this process.
The Terms of Reference for the groups can be found here.
About the Proposed Standard
Who is drafting the content of the draft standard?
The draft consolidated standard, assurance process and governance model are initially being drafted by the four partners with the Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) and an Industry Advisory Group (IAG) using their expertise to review, shape and inform the development of these three core components. The SAG and IAG play an essential role in providing a diversity of expert perspectives.
We will conduct two rounds of broad public consultation, providing an opportunity for all stakeholders to share their feedback.
What is the process for developing the standard?
The development of the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI)was initiated by the four partners and is inspired by ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice. A Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) and an Industry Advisory Group (IAG) were set up to play an essential role in providing a balance of independent and industry advisory input on the three core components:
- Standard — The scope and technical content of the consolidated standard.
- Assurance — The assurance process, that help underscore the integrity of the system and credibility of any conformance claims associated with the standard.
- Governance — The multi-stakeholder governance model for the consolidated standard, which should embody a power-sharing model between industry and stakeholders
Both the SAG and IAG will be engaged throughout the process, virtually and in-person. While these two groups are structurally separate, functionally they are integrated and will meet together during the development process.
The draft standard development process will include two rounds of broad public consultation. The first consultation will last for two months followed by a shorter second consultation in-line with ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice. The consultations will be online and will be available in different languages including English, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, French and Portuguese. This provides an opportunity for all interested stakeholders to share their feedback. The four partners will also seek input and advice through their own established stakeholder networks.
The partners will provide a summary of feedback received and how it has been addressed after each of the public consultations. The partners will also aim to achieve consensus support for each element of the standard from the SAG and the IAG prior to each public consultation phase.
What is the timeline for developing the standard?
This is an important and complex process that we do not want to rush. We therefore anticipate sharing the first draft of the standard for public consultation mid-2024. The timing of other key milestones relating to the development of the standard will be announced in due course.
Who approves the final standard?
The objective is to establish the multi-stakeholder board prior to the finalisation of the standard to ensure it enjoys broad based multi-stakeholder support. This board will make the final decision on the adoption of the new standard. The four partners ambition is for the new standard to be implemented by all of its members and participants.