The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has launched its enhanced membership requirements, called the ICMM Mining Principles, which now include site-level validation and transparent disclosure.

These requirements seek to maximise the industry’s benefits to host communities and minimise negative impacts to effectively manage issues of concern to society.

The ICMM Mining Principles define good practice environmental, social and governance requirements for the mining and metals industry through a comprehensive set of performance expectations.

Validation of the implementation of the performance expectations takes place at the site-level for all members’ assets, and validation involves a mix of self-assessments and independent, third-party assessments, coupled with transparent disclosure of the outcomes.

The ICMM Mining Principles are aligned with the objectives of other responsible sourcing initiatives, and establish a high bar for sustainability practices that many ICMM member companies currently apply to manage a broad range of sustainability issues at the operational level.

As a condition of membership for ICMM company members, the ICMM Mining Principles apply to about 650 assets in over 50 countries.

Commenting on the enhanced membership requirements, ICMM COO Aidan Davy noted that mining and metals are critically important to society as a catalyst for sustainable social and economic progress and as essential markets for the technologies needed to address climate change, but he emphasised that these “must be produced responsibly”.

“Societal expectations of the mining industry encompass a broad range of environmental, social and governance challenges. Our aim has been to develop a holistic set of requirements that establish a benchmark for responsible mining practices,” he added.

The ICMM Mining Principles will support members in supplying the increasing demand for metals and minerals, while giving confidence to customers and other stakeholders that they have been produced responsibly.

“We encourage all mining companies to embrace good practice environmental, social and governance requirements,” Davy said.

In 2003, the ICMM published its 10 Principles for Sustainable Development to set a standard of ethical performance for its members. Building on this, in early April 2018, ICMM launched a global public consultation on the introduction of a comprehensive set of performance expectations for how members should be expected to manage a range of sustainability issues.

The resulting enhanced mining principles strengthen social and environmental requirements on issues such as labour rights, resettlement, gender, access to grievance mechanisms, mine closure, pollution and waste.