RESPONSIBLE MINERALS INITIATIVE
RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS ALLIANCE 2021 ANNUAL REPORT
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The RBA’s Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) continued to make great progress in 2021, releasing five new assessment standards to match its original standards portfolio, including, for the first time, creating a dedicated standard for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements for mineral and metal processors.
The RMI also launched an All-Minerals Due Diligence Standard. In addition, the RMI continued its market acceptance efforts, receiving conditional approval of one of its standards by the London Metals Exchange (LME) in 2021 and pursuing LME recognition for other relevant standards in 2022. The RMI collaborated with a number of multistakeholder initiatives, civil society, governments and key stakeholders, culminating in the RMI governance structure expanding to include multi-stakeholder representation on the RMI Steering Committee with representatives from civil society and academia who started to serve their first term in January 2022.
MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW The RMI continued to experience strong membership growth in 2021 with 50 new members. These members represented a wide range of sectors that included electronics, energy, industrial, and minerals processing. The 2021 year-end RMI membership count was 437. Three new smelters or refiners (SORs) joined the RMI as Upstream Members in 2021. The RMI also welcomed two new Vendor Members and an Association Member in 2021. The RMI currently has 15 Upstream and 10 Vendor Members.
IN 2021, 309 OF THE 447 KNOWN TIN, TANTALUM, TUNGSTEN, GOLD, COBALT, MICA, COPPER, LITHIUM, NICKEL AND ZINC PROCESSORS, SMELTERS AND REFINERS WERE EITHER ACTIVE OR CONFORMANT TO THE RMAP OR A CROSSRECOGNIZED PROGRAM
