GRIP joins Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance
Along with companies, communities and other civil society groups, GRIP has joined the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) to demonstrate support for socially and environmentally responsible mining and to encourage New Mexico mining operations to conduct IRMA mine assessments.
With increased customer awareness, companies in the auto, jewellry, building and electronics industries are demanding an impartial, credible and verifiable certification process for responsibly-sourced minerals. Communities and civil society organizations, such as unions and nonprofit organizations, want a process that leads to transparency and accountability about a mine’s efforts to reduce adverse impacts to the environment and community and worker health and safety.
Similar to fair trade or organic certified labeling, IRMA facilitates responsible mining by independently certifying social and environmental performance at mine sites using an internationally recognized standard. IRMA was developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and is the most comprehensive mine-site standard in the world. The standard encompasses 26 chapters, from community and stakeholder engagement to planning and financing reclamation and closure, worker health and safety, and environmental responsibility.
“IRMA is needed now more than ever as the Trump administration has streamlined mine permitting processes for “critical and strategic minerals” and rolled back environmental protections,” stated GRIP Executive Director Allyson Siwik. “Although we recognize the need for a rapid clean energy transition, minerals mining should not come at the expense of community health and the environment.”
GRIP has used IRMA as a benchmark in its evaluation of mine permitting decisions and will continue to use the standard to encourage socially and environmentally responsible practices at New Mexico mines.
To learn more about IRMA, visit responsiblemining.net.
Hear more from IRMA’s Executive Director Aimee Boulanger on the Earth Matters podcast at https://tinyurl.com/y67hlvx6