A first-ever long-term artisanal and small-scale (ASM) mine site monitoring data study by supply chain auditor RCS Global Group’s Better Mining team has revealed the challenges in ethical battery supply chains.

The team assessed 12 months of data from RCS Global’s new Better Mining platform, which uses mobile technology to permanently monitor ASM sites in cobalt, copper, gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten and deliver risk and impact information directly to automotive and technology clients.

For example, Volvo Cars became the first global brand to actively use Better Mining data, which will enable the company to gain greater insight of the cobalt that is used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries for its next-generation electrical vehicles.

The Better Mining data came from five separate ASM sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. Each site had been assessed by RCS Global and had corrective action plans put in place; however, the sites are continually monitored through the Better Mining platform.

The research found that risks related to occupational health and safety (OHS), which account for 26% of all registered incidents across the sample, are more prevalent than risks related to human rights abuses, which account for 13% of all registered incidents, and conflict financing.

However, OHS-related fatalities had been reduced to zero at the sites since March this year.

The Rwanda-based sites presented a lower risk profile than those in the DRC. Incident data from the DRC mine sites in the sample of comparable sizes to Rwandan mine sites represented 89% of all registered incidents.

The Better Mining team found that risks at ASM gold sites proved to be particularly difficult to manage, compared with other minerals, which is linked to the commodity and market characteristics of the commodity.

Since January, deployment of the Better Mining platform, which includes a risk mitigation monitoring process, had led to a reduction in overall risk levels at four out of the five mine sites in the sample.

Out of all corrective actions recommended across all sites and risks, implementation has been most successful in human rights. RCS Global reported that 67% of recommended corrective actions had been implemented since January and 33% were in progress.

RCS Global further noted that the complete eradication of child labour remains challenging, owing to the difficulty of controlling access to mines that are in large, remote areas.

Access-controlled sites performed significantly better than the rest of the sample, with only 20% of all registered incidents having occurred at access-controlled sites over a 12-month period.

RCS Global stated that while there were encouraging signs, risk mitigation remained insufficient at the sample sites. Across all risk categories in the total sample, only 15% of recommended corrective actions had been implemented, with 32% in progress and 53% not started.

“The research highlights the overarching impact that permanent, digital monitoring and associated consistency in data flows can have in offering supply chain stakeholders the tools to improve conditions in ASM. Perceived complexity and opacity coupled with a lack of consistent data has stymied real, systemic improvements in the sector to date.   

“Big global brands must stop relying on periodic audits and begin engaging and supporting upstream efforts to improve mining conditions. Local cooperatives and off-taker companies often lack the technical and financial capacity to implement structural risk mitigation measures and urgently need the support of consumer-facing brands in their downstream supply chain,” RCS Global said.

Using permanent mobile-technology-backed mine site monitoring, the Better Mining platform delivers continual and unprecedented levels of ASM risk and impact data at both individual mine site and aggregated level.

The subscription-based data service enables companies to strengthen their approach to identify, assess and manage risks at the source of their raw material supply chains.

Crucially, it is also used to assess and support positive impacts directed at ASM communities.