An entity from mine up to and including a refiner for copper, lead, nickel, or zinc that is processing material from mine sites, or otherwise meets the definition of a facility within scope as outlined in Section 3.1 of the Standard, is eligible.

Any metal produced at site is covered in the Joint Standard as long as the site also produces copper, lead, nickel, and / or zinc. If a company is seeking specific association recognition for gold, silver, or cobalt, they should consult with their selected implementing organization for equivalence and/or top-off requirements.

Yes.  Because the assessment is management-system based, by-products are included in the scope.

Assurance happens at site level even if due diligence processes are established at the corporate level.

For the Copper Mark, sites pay a management fee of $2,000 USD per assessment.  Sites are responsible for the cost of the assessment directly with the assessor or firm.

For the RMI, sites pay the management fee of $1,000 and assessment fee directly to the RMI.

For the Copper Mark, sites are assessed every 3 years unless there is a change in circumstance that triggers a re-assessment sooner (see the Copper Mark Assurance Process, Section 3.6 for a full list of changes).

For the RMI, sites are assessed every 1-3 years depending on their risk profile. For full information on the criteria for a 3-year assessment cycle, companies may consult the Risk-Based Assessment Program (RBAP) or contact RMI for further information.

Both the Copper Mark and the RMI have rigorous processes to approve both audit firms and assessors, including training requirements.

The Copper Mark lists all approved assessment firms on the website here.

The RMI will select an assessor as part of their process but takes auditee preference into strong consideration. The list of fully and provisionally approved RMAP audit firms is available here.

Any documents including policies, procedures and records related to the due diligence processes will be required for review during the assessment.

Depending on the size and complexity of the operation and their sourcing practices, the assessment may take 2-8 days.

All assessments are completed at site level.  Assessments may look slightly different in instances where:

• The site is part of a group of sites whose due diligence management system is managed at corporate level;
• The policies and procedures for purchasing are managed at corporate level; and
• Material used to produce Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn products are purchased by corporate offices and the site does not purchase any material directly.

In these instances:

• The assessor must review the corporate-level due diligence management system for conformance with the Joint Standard including all policies, procedures, and interviews with management.
• The assessor must visit each of the sites to complete a physical walk-through (including of areas such as ports and unloading, materials receipt, storage, raw material planning, lab, etc.) and interviews with workers to ensure implementation at site of the corporate-level policies and procedures. This includes confirming:
  • Access to and knowledge of the policies and procedures
  • Implementation of the relevant policies and procedures
  • Intended effect of the relevant policies and procedures
• The assessor will write a report for each site.

The RMAP has a cross-recognition policy (available here) that is used for evaluation of all assurance programs across all minerals. Review for cross-recognition of a separate assurance scheme involves review of both the Standard and implementation of that Standard. Currently, review of implementation of the Joint Due Diligence Standard by Copper Mark will need to be completed in order to issue a final determination of either full cross-recognition or need for a top-off assessment.

The Copper Mark has a Recognition Process that allows for schemes that have successfully completed an OECD Alignment Assessment using an OECD-approved assessor to be recognized.

Both the Copper Mark and the RMI recognize standards that have been independently assessed to be OECD-Aligned in both design and equivalent to their assessment results in implementation, in accordance with our recognition processes (Copper Mark, RMI).

Yes.  Sites determine the start of the assessment period (which is 12 months) based on factors such as calendar year, fiscal year, reporting year, etc. The re-assessment every 3 years for sites on a 3-year cycle covers a period of 36 months.

Yes.  Both the Copper Mark and the RMI can provide additional guidance for what to include in a multi-standard assessment. If a Joint DD Standard assessment is being conducted simultaneously with another standard assessment using the same audit team, the site must ensure that the audit team is approved for implementation of the Joint DD Standard. Approved firms for both the Copper Mark and RMI are noted previously.

For more information, see the resources below or contact:

• The Copper Mark: info@coppermark.org
• Responsible Minerals Initiative: ctyson@responsiblebusiness.org; RMI@responsiblebusiness.org