ICMM | Our work • Work programs •

WORK PROGRAMS

Materials stewardship

Materials Stewardship is based on the premise that ICMM members have a shared responsibility to ensure the optimal and appropriate use of minerals and metals in society. This means partnering to influence factors beyond the boundary of our own operations and considering issues such as responsible design, use, recycling and disposal of the materials we produce.

In practice, Materials Stewardship involves taking a broad systems-perspective of a material in order to understand the impacts and opportunities along the supply chain. It is founded on life-cycle science concepts, places a strong emphasis on building relationships with stakeholders throughout the supply chain and supports collection of a robust, accessible base of information to support decision making.

Why Materials Stewardship?

There is an increasing trend linking our social licence to operate with an expectation for mining and metal companies to assume a greater responsibility for ensuring the sustainability of materials throughout the supply chain. As well as leading to greater societal and customer awareness, this expectation is becoming enshrined in international public policy requiring the assessment and management of the environmental or social footprint of materials. It is increasingly seen as a criterion for access to markets.

Understanding, monitoring and tracking these aspects of the materials we produce is in effect another form of risk management and a company’s ability to respond to risks and opportunities is dependent on the quality and quantity of information it has across the entire supply chain.

The Materials Stewardship concept and program has therefore been specifically designed to assist mining and metal companies in the managing along the materials supply chain from cradle to grave by:

strengthening capacity for measurement and understanding of the sustainability footprint of minerals and metals across the full lifecycle
actively addressing international trends and issues related to the social and political acceptability of minerals and metals