‘Continuous improvement is of key importance to us.’
In the spring of 2024, Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM) was the very first mine in Africa to be awarded The Copper Mark. Liang Wei, Vice President of ESG at CMOC, which operates the TFM mining site in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is proud of the achievement. She emphasises the importance of the local staff in making this happen. “As long as the determination is there and you have a strong team, you can definitely achieve your goals.”
For CMOC, The Copper Mark for TFM means:
• Use of high-end ESG standard
• Starting point for continuous improvement
• Transparency towards stakeholders
• Compliance with LME requirements
• Shared goal for corporate and local staff
• Basis for implementation at various mines
TFM is currently the world’s fifth largest copper mine and the world’s second largest cobalt mine. The concession covers no less than 1,500 km2 and about 400,000 people live in the area. When construction of the mine started in 2006, there were ‘only’ 50,000 residents, describes Liang Wei as one of the major challenges for TFM. “Naturally, a lot of interaction takes place between the company and the local community.” The complex environment within the mine operates also attracts a lot of attention from investors, governments and the media.
Best from the benchmark
CMOC has owned TFM since 2016 and has also grown rapidly elsewhere in the world. Liang Wei: “Every time we acquired new assets, we inherited the management system from the previous owners. We were looking for a way to harmonise all these standards. With this in mind, we started comparing different ESG standards. The Copper Mark, with its underlying Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA), came out on top in our benchmark. The RRA covers all the risks that an industrial mining company may encounter in their daily operations. And it is also inclusive enough to take into consideration the very different contexts of the mines in the countries in which we operate. Furthermore, having The Copper Mark means that we are compliant with the London Metal Exchange’s responsible sourcing requirements.”
Continuous improvement
Liang Wei mentions even more benefits of The Copper Mark. “The philosophy of continuous improvement as pursued by The Copper Mark is extremely important. It aligns perfectly with our own corporate values as COMC.” A third aspect that appealed to the company was the degree of transparency that The Copper Mark brings. “In the communications with our stakeholders, the transparency that The Copper Mark offers makes it much easier to describe our level of ESG performance.” TFM already started experiencing the concrete impact of The Copper Mark immediately after it had been obtained. “The Copper Mark proves an important means of demonstrating responsible and sustainable production to customers, investors, government, communities, employees and other stakeholders. In the first week after we were awarded The Copper Mark, we for example already received some very positive feedback from downstream clients via our trading company.”
Local staff as the best ambassador
TFM’s preparations to qualify for The Copper Mark started in 2022. An internal team of CMOC and TFM commenced with drawing up and implementing concrete action plans for meeting the 32 RRA criteria. In the following year, TFM formally committed to participate in The Copper Mark. Next, the independent onsite assessment was performed by an international team of assessors approved by The Copper Mark organisation. Liang Wei: “I can state with confidence that we were awarded The Copper Mark due to the high level of involvement of the local staff. Our Congolese managers are really the ambassadors for The Copper Mark throughout the whole company.”
Closing the gaps
Receiving The Copper Mark does not imply that TFM fully meets all of the 32 criteria. TFM must now close all identified gaps within 24 months of its commitment to participate in The Copper Mark in order to maintain the award. This will again have to be verified by an independent third-party assessor. “As mentioned, the mine operates in a high-risk, very complex environment. Therefore, we have further strengthened our efforts to close these gaps. This is also perfectly in line with our pursuit of continuous improvement. When improving a system, you always aim for the low-hanging fruit first. We are now working on the more difficult parts to thus be able to complete the process and fully meet all criteria within the 24 months of our Letter of Commitment to The Copper Mark.”
Liang Wei concludes with some heartfelt advice to other mining companies that are considering an assessment for The Copper Mark. “Don’t be frightened by prejudices about complex environments. As long as you are sufficiently determined and you have a strong team, you can definitely achieve your goals. We at CMOC are happy that we took the step for TFM. It was a long journey which we will definitely continue!”