Nonprofit organisation (NPO) the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) has released the first renewal audit report in its history, assessing JSE-listed Valterra Platinum's Unki mine, in Zimbabwe, against the IRMA standard for responsible mining.

Unki’s IRMA 75 achievement level means that SCS Global Services evaluated its performance against the IRMA Standard’s 428 requirements and determined it substantially or completely met all 40 critical requirements and scored at least 75% in each of the standard’s four principle areas.

Since its initial audit, IRMA says Unki’s performance improved in three of the four principles: business integrity, planning for positive legacies and environmental responsibility. The NPO says social responsibility has held steady since the initial audit.

“Unki’s improved performance reported in this first renewal audit demonstrates the IRMA system at work, facilitating an operation’s improvement journey towards best practice by providing transparent, independent evaluations of their environmental and social performance.

“Through detailed IRMA audit reports, mining companies, communities and companies that purchase mined materials can gain the information they need to decide what’s going well – and what may require more attention – at specific mines,” says IRMA executive director Aimee Boulanger.

Sites begin the IRMA assessment cycle with a comprehensive initial audit, earning an IRMA achievement level that is valid for three years.

At 18 months, an abbreviated surveillance audit verifies ongoing performance and corrective action plan progress. A comprehensive renewal audit occurs before the initial achievement expires.

Because Unki was the first operation independently audited against the IRMA standard, the NPO explains that its cycle extended beyond three years to accommodate learnings and process improvements.

The NPO notes that the independent IRMA system is the only global mining standard that provides equal power to the public sector (communities and Indigenous rights holders, mineworkers and environmental and human rights advocates) alongside the private sector (mining companies, mined material buyers and investors).

Including Unki, 29 industrial-scale mines worldwide have undergone IRMA audit.