Standards are the foundation of the Copper Mark.  The Copper Mark Assurance Framework was developed to set common expectations for responsible production practices, assure that those common expectations are met at site level, and capture the changing expectations of stakeholders through regular consultation and revision.

To ensure our standards are credible and effective, we follow the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Standard Setting, to ensure our standards are relevant and transparent and reflect a balance of stakeholder interests.

Details on our standard development and revision process, and how stakeholders can engage with us can be found here.

The Copper Mark regularly participates in benchmarking efforts to facilitate recognition across standards and understand emerging expectations for responsible practices.  In order to enable companies to meet the expectations of their customers, investors, and regulators, the Copper Mark provides several tools and standards.  It uses the Assurance Process to assess companies against its standards.

Currently, the Copper Mark offers assurance against the following standards:

1.     The Copper Mark Criteria for Responsible Production. The Copper Mark uses the Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA) of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) as the basis for evaluating Participants’ performance, including the RRA-Copper Mark Criteria Guide of February 2020.

2.     The Joint Due Diligence Standard for Copper, Lead, Nickel and Zinc of February 2021.