Anglo American has a clear, well-established record of responsible sourcing and ethical value chains, with industry-leading internal standards that guide our approach to sustainability.
When buying Anglo American products, our customers know that our processes and practices are underpinned and guided by our values, and our focus on sustainability – from our safety, health and environmental management system, to our standard for responsible sourcing and our commitment to understand, and respond to, the needs and realities of the communities in which we operate. This helps us prioritise ethical decision-making across our entire supply chain, complementing our efforts to promote the principles of decent work and ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights for every person impacted through our activities.
We also recognise the value of independent assurance to verify these aspects of our performance, against which we can test our internal criteria for alignment with best practice. This ensures we live up to the evolving expectations of our customers, investors, local communities, employees and other stakeholders, while optimising the value from our mineral resources by anticipating and addressing their needs from a sustainability standpoint.
For example, our platinum group metal operations in South Africa already meet the requirements of the London Platinum & Palladium Market (LPPM) Responsible Sourcing Guidance, a framework created to formalise and consolidate existing high standards of due diligence amongst all PGM refiners.
As another example, in March this year, our managed copper operations in Chile – the Los Bronces and El Soldado mining operations, and the Chagres smelter – were awarded the Copper Mark, the assurance standard for responsible copper, developed to demonstrate the copper industry’s commitment to both the green energy transition and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) Standard – a core element of the Ethical Value Chain stretch goal in our Sustainable Mining Plan – is another such mechanism. A global system to credibly measure environmental and social responsibility for mined materials, it offers independent third-party verification and certification for all mined materials, covering the full range of issues related to the environmental and social impact of industrial-scale mines.
The IRMA framework helps us to certify our efforts in a way that is objectively measured and understood. Supporting our own industry-leading standards by associating the appropriate trust marks with our products provides independent assurance to our customers that the materials they purchase from Anglo American are mined and supplied in a responsible way – in full alignment with our purpose and values.
This helps them demonstrate the necessary credentials across their own value chains. For example, certain sectors, like automotive, are increasingly recognising the benefits of IRMA and appreciate the certification as a way of validating the commitment of product suppliers, such as Anglo American, to responsible sourcing practices.
Understanding IRMA
The IRMA Standard was developed over 10 years following public consultation with more than 100 individuals and organisations, including government agencies, financial entities, academic institutions, NGOs and others. It defines good practices and sets aspirational goals for how mines should operate and perform.
Results range from IRMA Transparency to IRMA 50, IRMA 75 and IRMA 100 certified achievement levels, which reflect gradual performance improvements. Each level requires a third-party audit and public disclosure of the results and, with the exception of IRMA transparency, conformity to 40 critical requirements across four principal areas – Business Integrity, Planning and Managing for Positive Legacies, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Responsibility.
Based on a wide range of existing, industry recognized standards, IRMA establishes a more efficient audit process for global value chains, with input from multiple stakeholders, increasing transparency and ensuring sustainability practices are continuously improved through a positive-feedback loop that leads to better ways to do business. This creates greater value for all stakeholders.
Adopting processes like the IRMA and LPPM frameworks allows us to monitor and drive continuous improvement across all aspects of responsible mining, with several advantages to certification. For example, with growing cross-industry commitment in this space, IRMA counts several key customers of our PGM value chain as members.
The rigorous requirements of the IRMA Standard have been confirmed by the German Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe) which, together with the University of Ulm, published a study in 2017 comparing 19 selected initiatives. The results of this analysis determined that the IRMA certification process demands the highest requirements of the mining industry.
Encouragingly, the European Parliament has also expressed support for IRMA in its recently published report on Critical Raw Materials. In this report, Parliamentarians called on the Commission to use IRMA as a “starting point” when developing a standard for responsible mining.
