1. Ethical Business

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ICMM company members commit to apply ethical business practices and sound systems of corporate governance and transparency to support sustainable development.

Embracing sustainability is a societal expectation and a business imperative. ICMM members apply ethical business practices, backed by sound systems of corporate governance and transparency to support sustainable development.

Performance Expectations

Developed with extensive input from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international organisations and academics, our Mining Principles establish baseline performance expectations for a responsible mining and metals industry. ICMM's Mining Principles include five Performance Expectations under Principle 1: Ethical Business.

  • 1.1: Establish systems for legal compliance

    Establish systems to maintain compliance with applicable law.[1]

  • 1.2: Prevent bribery and corruption

    Implement policies and practices to prevent bribery, corruption and to publicly disclose facilitation payments.

  • 1.3: Align policies and standards to ICMM

    Implement policies and standards consistent with the ICMM policy framework.

  • 1.4: Assign accountability for sustainable development at Board/ExCo level

    Assign accountability for sustainability performance at the Board and/or Executive Committee level.

  • 1.5: Disclose financial contributions

    Disclose the value and beneficiaries of financial and in-kind political contributions whether directly or through an intermediary.

About ICMM's Mining Principles

ICMM’s Mining Principles strengthen social and environmental requirements, on issues such as labour rights, resettlement, gender, access to grievance mechanisms, mine closure, pollution and waste.

Supporting global goals

As momentum behind the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continues to grow, there is mounting pressure on the private sector to support the delivery of a wide variety of development objectives. ICMM’s Mining Principles can support the mining and metals industry in addressing climate change, ending poverty and tackling rising inequalities.

Each SDG connects with or can be directly influenced by ICMM’s Mining Principles. Unlike many other sectors, there is no primary point of connection between mining and a single SDG. Instead, operations have the extraordinary potential to contribute to several goals at once. The contribution mining products to almost every aspect of life is arguably becoming more important than ever – with metals and minerals enabling the innovations needed to deliver pathways to a greener, safer and more sustainable future.

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Notes

1. ICMM’s member companies already comply with all applicable law in the countries that they operate in. However, many stakeholders say they want mining companies to show that they have strong systems that ensure legal compliance.