{"id":1146655,"date":"2019-10-30T05:01:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T11:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1005585"},"modified":"2019-10-30T05:01:50","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T11:01:50","slug":"europe-led-global-certification-scheme-for-raw-materials-expected-in-2020-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1146655","title":{"rendered":"Europe-led global certification scheme for raw materials expected in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A group of European bodies and companies have joined<br \/>\nefforts to create the first global certification scheme ensuring consistent<br \/>\nstandards of environmental, social and economic impact throughout the entire<br \/>\nraw materials value chain, to be launched next year.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>CERA (CErtification of RAw Materials), conceived in<br \/>\n2015 by German engineering and consulting firm DMT Group, counts with the support<br \/>\nof the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the European Commission\u2019s Joint Research<br \/>\nCentre (JRC), EIT RawMaterials, Volkswagen, Fairphone and research institutions<br \/>\nfrom across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Companies are under pressure from consumers and<br \/>\ninvestors to prove that minerals are sourced without human rights abuses but<br \/>\ntracking raw materials throughout their journey is challenging.<\/p>\n<p>There currently are at least 40 different certification<br \/>\nmethods for the mining industry alone and the number increases exponentially<br \/>\nwhen considering the entire value chain. Some are specific to a geographic<br \/>\nregion, process or humanitarian concern, while others tackle a single mineral. <\/p>\n<p>An additional barrier for the current certifications<br \/>\nto work, is that most of them are complex, expensive and inconsistent, says Andreas<br \/>\nHucke, CERA Project Director, Head of Raw Materials Sustainability at DMT. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis resulting in different approaches to how<br \/>\nsustainability and ethics are defined from country to country, mineral to mineral,<br \/>\nand company to company,\u201d Hucke says. \u201cCERA solves those problems\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The certification process will be carried out using a private blockchain while its verification and search will be available on a public blockchain. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/mining-industry-adoption-blockchain-not-question-report\/\" >The technology<\/a>, the same that\u2019s behind cryptocurrency bitcoin, provides a shared record of data held by a network of individual computers rather than a single party.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/public-private-blockchain.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1005587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/public-private-blockchain.jpg 582w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/public-private-blockchain-231x300.jpg 231w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><figcaption>From \u201cDigitalizing the mining and metals global supply chain: Rise of blockchain and the smart contract.\u201d <em> <a href=\"http:\/\/events.whitecase.com\/insights\/2018-blockchain-mining\/blockchain-graphics-02.pdf\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Courtesy of White &amp; Case.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Formal CERA pilot projects addressing sustainability<br \/>\nin the exploration, extraction and processing of lithium and cobalt will<br \/>\ncommence in late 2019.<\/p>\n<p>There are several other blockchain projects focused on<br \/>\nproving the authenticity of commodities and products. <\/p>\n<p>Responsible-sourcing group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/ford-lead-blockchain-pilot-trace-cobalt-mined-congo\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">RCS Global is helping IBM develop a cobalt traceability solution<\/a> for Volkswagen, Ford and others.<\/p>\n<p>World\u2019s No. 1 diamond producer by value, De Beers, is<br \/>\nin the advance stages of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/de-beers-tracks-first-100-diamonds-supply-chain-using-blockchain\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">testing its Tracr platform<\/a>, which allows tracing gemstones<br \/>\nthroughout the entire value chain \u2014 from mine to buyer.<\/p>\n<p>Current regulations includes the EU\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/trade\/policy\/in-focus\/conflict-minerals-regulation\/regulation-explained\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Conflict Minerals Regulation<\/a>, a law covering the sourcing of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold \u2013 or \u20183TG\u2019, which will come into force next year. \u00a0Those rules are based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development\u2019s (OECD) guidance for sourcing minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. It requires companies to prove they are investigating due diligence within their supply chains. The law is restricted, however, to those four commodities.<\/p>\n<p>Other metals are covered by the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.responsiblemineralsinitiative.org\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Responsible Raw Materials Initiative (RRMI)<\/a>, an industry-led due diligence process supported by tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and electric car developers Renault, Ford and General Motors. Abiding by such initiative, however, is voluntary.<\/p>\n<p>In the next weeks, CERA will be<br \/>\nidentifying pilot project partners for Chain of Custody, set to begin in 2020. It<br \/>\nwill receive applications from 2020 and issue first certificates in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CERA (CErtification of RAw Materials) harmonizes the standard of ethics, environmental and social impact across every material in every country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1016,2849,949,369,4,2857],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1146655"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146749,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146655\/revisions\/1146749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1146655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1146655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1146655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}