8 September 2025, 12:00 BST: Partners of the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) – The Copper Mark, ICMM, Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and the World Gold Council (WGC) – are pleased to announce the publication of the Governance Model. The Governance Model will be adopted by The Copper Mark as it evolves to become the Secretariat for the Standard. The Copper Mark’s own Governance Model, including its current independent Board and Advisory Council, will evolve to the 17-member Board of Directors. A public, open call for applications for Board appointments will follow, and the evolution should be completed before the finalisation of the Standard.
Once finalised, existing members of ICMM, World Gold Council and MAC, and participants of The Copper Mark are expected to transition and adopt the Standard.
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 over time.
The evolution of the Governance Model has been guided by the rich feedback received during public consultation, as well as extensive input from our Stakeholder and Industry Advisory Groups.
A report outlining how feedback from the first public consultation on the Governance Model has been addressed has been published alongside the Governance Model.
The Governance Model
The Governance Model will comprise a 17-member Board of Directors, led by an Independent Chair. It is designed to balance participation across companies and stakeholders affected by mining or value chain activities.
The Board will comprise:
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Four Directors from mining companies – or their representatives – implementing the Standard.
These Directors will be drawn from the memberships of ICMM, MAC, and WGC (one per organisation), with one additional Director selected by the International Copper Association (ICA). - Four Directors from mining-affected stakeholders and rights-holders.
This will include one Director representing Indigenous Peoples, one from labour, one focused on social/human rights, and one from an environmental perspective, with a blend of local, regional and global representation. -
Four Directors from value chain companies committed to responsible minerals and metals value chains.
This will include consumer-facing companies such as OEMs; standalone recyclers, smelters or refiners; and component manufacturers. - Four Directors from non-commercial value chain stakeholders committed to responsible minerals and metals value chains – including:
- international NGOs, multi-lateral organisations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and academics with expertise in responsible value chains; and
- stakeholders directly affected by midstream and downstream value chain activities who reflect social, community, environmental or labour concerns linked to the midstream and downstream.
Changes since public consultation
Important changes have been made to how the initial Board will be formed following public consultation, most notably the removal of the CMSI Partners from the process of selecting the Independent Chair. The Independent Chair will now be selected through a sub-committee drawn from the Stakeholder and Industry Advisory Groups; the Stakeholder Advisory Group will also play a central role in selecting other Board members through nomination sub-committees. That selection will be preceded by a public, open call for applications or nominations in a way that encourages broad participation across stakeholders and geographies.
Additional revisions have also been made to clarify the commitment to balanced representation of value-chain and mining interests, as well as commercial and non-commercial interests. These changes aim to ensure the model is inclusive of the perspectives of all stakeholders and rights-holders.
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For further information, interviews and queries, please see the media relations contacts below.
Media contacts (representing the four partner organisations)
Issued by R&A Strategic Communications on behalf of the CMSI:
Charmane Russell +27 82 372 5816 or charmane@rasc.co.za
Katherine Bester +27 83 441 0671 or katherineb@rasc.co.za
ICMM – Tom Horsman – tom.horsman@icmm.com
World Gold Council – Steph Cadman – stephanie.cadman@gold.org
Mining Association of Canada – Paul Hébert – phebert@mining.ca
The Copper Mark – David Perri – david.perri@coppermark.org