This training manual provides a high-level overview of the important steps to consider for mine closure. It has been developed to support clear, informed and balanced discussions about bauxite mine closure. Its purpose is to help communities understand the key steps and considerations for mine closure, how to achieve them, discuss some of the language used and therefore better understand what is being discussed, what rights exist, and what questions may be important to ask.

This paper explores how Voluntary Sustainability Initiatives (VSIs) for the mining sector can be used to demonstrate that companies have appropriate due diligence systems and processes in place, to ensure that due diligence has been carried out, and to verify due diligence. While VSIs and related verification processes are not a substitute for rule of law and the role of government in establishing requirements and oversight, they can serve as a complementary tool for due diligence.

The FPIC-360° Tool for monitoring and verifying free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is a multi-pronged tool, founded on the premise that FPIC can only be conducted responsibly and successfully if the Indigenous Peoples affected by a proposed project are co-owners and implementers of the entire process, from design, through implementation and monitoring phases.

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) was established in 2006, through a multi-stakeholder collaboration involving labour groups, communities, purchasing and mining companies and NGOs. Indigenous Rights Holders IRMA works towards protecting people and the environment directly affected by mining.

The framework can help sustainability standards and other sustainability initiatives navigate the types and intensity of collaboration and interoperability using the metals, minerals and mining sectors as examples.

This paper presents the findings of a structured review of the GHG aspects of the standards of the four members of the M3 Standards Partnership as well as a variety of other organizations in the mining, minerals and metals sector. It also reports on the responses to a detailed survey of leading mining companies drawn from the M3 Partnership’s memberships. The 47-question survey focused on GHG emissions measurement, disclosure and reporting, and target setting.

This document describes the M3 Partnership Integrated Assessment Protocol (M3 IAP), a tool designed to allow mine sites to be assessed against multiple site-level standards in a single audit, supporting identification of alignment across standards, and promoting demonstration of conformity with multiple standards with greater efficiency and reduced cost.

This Guidance document has been developed to facilitate the use of the Integrated Assessment Protocol (IAP), a tool designed to allow mine sites to be assessed against multiple site-level standards in a single audit, supporting identification of alignment across standards, and promoting demonstration of conformity with multiple standards with greater efficiency and reduced cost.

The Integrated Assessment Protocol (IAP) tool was designed to allow mine sites to be assessed against multiple site-level standards in a single audit. This document provides a summary of two pilots undertaken to test and improve the IAP tool, with case studies and lessons learned, and next steps.

The M3 Partnership Integrated Assessment Protocol (M3 IAP) tool was designed to allow mine sites to be assessed against multiple site-level standards in a single audit, supporting identification of alignment across standards, and promoting demonstration of conformity with multiple standards with greater efficiency and reduced cost.

A short paper describing the key learnings from ResponsibleSteel's Recognition Process. Learn more about the Mining, metals and minerals (M3) Standards Partnership project, led by ResponsibleSteel, supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO.

ISEAL has developed a good practice guide to help ensure that sustainability claims made by jurisdictions, landscape initiatives, and the companies that source from or support them, are credible. The guidance covers the structural and performance claims a jurisdictional entity may wish to make, along with the supporting action claims of other related stakeholders.

This case study highlights how credible voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) support palm oil companies with regulatory requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Featuring the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), it explores how VSS enable traceability, ensure legal production, and promote smallholder inclusion - helping businesses build deforestation-and conversion-free (DCF) supply chains that go beyond compliance.

A project led by The Copper Mark, carried out between 2023 and 2024, provided a greater understanding of the reality of artisanal and small-scale copper mining (ASCM) in Peru. The report and infographic available to download here are designed to provide useful insights, to generate an open dialogue between all stakeholders of the copper value chain within the framework of sustainable development. 

ResponsibleSteel developed a methodology for the recognition of input material programmes which was piloted with assessments of Bettercoal, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) programmes.

ResponsibleSteel developed a methodology for the recognition of input material programmes which was piloted with assessments of Bettercoal, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) programmes.This paper provides an overview of recognition decisions from the pilot assessments, high-level summaries of the three programmes and outlines under which circumstances ResponsibleSteel will recognise mine sites participating in the programmes. 

ResponsibleSteel developed a methodology for the recognition of input material programmes and piloted it with three programmes. This document describes the methodology, approved by the ResponsibleSteel Board in May 2022.

This report presents methodology and results of the ISEAL Innovations Fund-supported project 'Codifying Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Voluntary Standards Systems', led by Equitable Origin

This is a research report published by ISEAL and authored by Dr Emma Wilson. The report was developed as part of a collaboration between ISEAL and GIZ to support the work of sustainability standards in the metals, mining and minerals sector.

We are excited to launch the revision of the ISEAL Chain of Custody (CoC) Definitions and Models Guidance. The revision process will include:

This report discusses explores challenges the M3 Partnership faced developing a shared approach to stakeholder engagement and the extent to which the objectives of reducing duplicative or competitive communications and reducing stakeholder confusion and fatigue was achieved through the project, and outlines lessons learned.

The M3 Partnership is a collaboration of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), ResponsibleSteel, and Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), which aims to identify opportunities for alignment and collective action to drive improvement in social and environmental performance.

This cross-sectoral learning brief distils the in-depth reports and tools from the Mining, metals and minerals (M3) Standards Partnership project, led by Responsible Steel, supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO.

Public and private sector stakeholders are increasingly looking to voluntary standards as one of the key tools to deliver their sustainability goals. While voluntary standards are clearly demonstrating their contribution to livelihoods, decent work and preservation of the environment, there is renewed focus on the extent to which these tools can protect and promote core human rights in sectors where they operate.