Upstream Data – Better Mining with videos

BETTER MINING
The mineral agnostic artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) assurance and impact program, serving mining communities worldwide.

BETTER MINING
The mineral agnostic artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) assurance and impact program, serving mining communities worldwide.

BETTER MINING
The mineral agnostic artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) assurance and impact program, serving mining communities worldwide.

What is Better Mining:
Better Mining is the proven mineral agnostic assurance and impact program that continuously monitors and supports the improvement of conditions on and around artisanal and small-scale mine (ASM) sites.

Objectives

Help downstream companies identify and conduct due diligence on the ASM mine sites in their supply chains.

Enable companies to support the improvement of ASM sites and surronding communities at a regional scale, with 38 mine sites in the program in 2020.

Offering assurance to enable access to market for ASM operators and exporters who comply with responsible sourcing requirements.

RCS Global Group partners with the Responsible Minerals Initiative and supporting companies in Better Mining implementation.

Some of the Supporters of Better Mining:

Find out more about Better Mining’s Value Add in the Global ESG Assurance and Impact Architecture:

RCS Group Better Mining Introduction Ferdinand Maubrey

Intel Corp Better Mining MemberErin Mitchel

RCS Group Better Mining PerformanceAna Sarmiento

Better Mining DRC Case StudyRobert Bitumba

Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) Program PartnerAlexandra Cech

Volvo Cars Better Mining MemberLinn Fortgens

Luna SmelterBetter Mining Member Olena Wiaderna

Huayou CobaltBetter Mining MemberBryce Lee

Better Mining is an organization that we have worked with for a while now in the DRC. The importance of that is to have an organization that is there on the ground to ensure the different conditions we have set are being met.
Linn Fortgens
Director of Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Volvo Cars, January 2021

The RMI is committed to supporting responsible ASM […] production so that it is recognized by the market and contributes positively to local communities. The independent site monitoring and reporting services provided by Better Mining is a crucial component of this process that we are pleased to scale with the support of RMI members and other stakeholders.
Leah ButlerVice-President, Responsible Business Alliance, August 2020

Better Mining (…) has triggered or catalysed positive changes (…), especially in the categories “worst forms of child labour”, “corruption and bribery”, “occupational health and safety”, and “environmental and public health impacts.
European Commission Joint Research CentreAssessing Impacts of responsible sourcing initiatives for cobalt: Insights from a case study (2021)

Saving the EV Revolution: Analysis of Better Mining Data
Paper analysing Better Mining data collected in 2019 across 3TG, cobalt, and copper ASM sites.

Download

How Better Mining works

Monitoring agents permanently collect risk, impact, and context data on ASM sites and monitor corrective actions implementation. The data is collected with a bespoke smartphone application.

Digital material traceability from pit to export through the scanning of barcodes attached to bags of minerals as well
as the collection of weight, location, and timestamp data at every processing step.

Risk and traceability data verified and analysed by due diligence experts.

Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) issued monthly and workshopped with stakeholders on the ground.

Mine site Corrective Action Plan (CAP) progress, risk assessment, and traceability data shared with supporting companies

The following risk categories are assessed by Better Mining and mitigated through
Better Mining CAPs, implemented by local stakeholders:

Why Better Mining?
Because we create quantifiable and demonstrable impact. Better Mining is currently on 38 ASM sites across cobalt, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold.

In 2020, across all 3TCC sites in the program:

1086 incidents registered

480 corrective action recommendations issued to stakeholders on the ground issued based on 392 incidents recorded in 2020

72% of recommended corrective actions
are either implemented
or in progress

346 corrective actions recommended by Better Mining implemented or in course of implementation

Pictures are taken from Better Mining fieldwork

CAP Implementation Progress across all
3TCC sites in the program

RCS Global Group in the media