ERG's Metalkol RTR facility, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Diversified natural resources producer Eurasian Resources Group’s (ERG’s) hydro-metallurgical copper and cobalt facility, Metalkol RTR, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), will be undergoing the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) – a flagship programme of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI).
Metalkol RTR has made a formal commitment to proceed with the RMAP assessment and has submitted all required pre-assessment documentation.
The aim of the RMAP is to help companies and organisations make informed choices about responsibly sourced minerals in their supply chains.
The RMAP uses an independent third-party assessment of smelter or refiner management systems and sourcing practices to validate conformance with RMAP standards, while the assessment itself employs a risk-based approach to validate smelters' company-level management processes for responsible mineral procurement.
ERG CEO Benedikt Sobotka commented on November 26 that “cobalt’s role in the world economy is only set to increase as it is a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage which will power the green recovery”.
Therefore, he said, it “is vital that the cobalt in these products is sourced responsibly and sustainably”, hence the company committing to this through its Clean Cobalt Framework, the Cobalt Industry Responsible Assessment Framework and the RMAP.