Abstract:

The increased concerns from policy makers in the EU, UK and elsewhere over the supply of raw materials to support key industries, particularly in the context of the energy transition, has led to the identification of official lists of critical raw materials (CRMs). Additionally, the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) has defined a separate subgroup, strategic raw materials (SRMs), which includes those CRMs that are strategically important for green, digital, space and defence applications that may be subject to future supply risks. To reduce supply chain risks there is a need to identify likely sources of future production, including mineral projects that are at the exploration or development stage. This relies on the availability of reliable estimates, and reports on the mineral projects, which use consistent terminology.

The mining and investment community are familiar with the CRIRSCO family of reporting codes which are primarily aimed at governing public reporting to investors and their advisors, to assist them in making decisions on investments in minerals companies or projects. Those working in government organisations are often more familiar with the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC), which was initially developed to support the development of national mineral inventories, including minerals projects that are considered to be economically viable and those which are of strategic interest, but may not be currently considered amenable to economic exploitation.

In the context of establishing EU wide mineral inventories, the EU’s CRMA has specified the use of the UNFC to facilitate the development of a harmonised database for the 27 member countries, as they use a variety of minerals reporting systems for the purposes of geological survey databases and minerals lease management. This has led some people in the mining industry to ask whether the continued use of a CRIRSCO Template aligned reporting code is necessary. This opinion displays a lack of understanding of the characteristics of the CRIRSCO aligned reporting codes and the UNFC and the purposes for which they were intended. The strengths and weaknesses of both systems, in meeting the requirements of government land use and strategic planners and investors in the minerals sector, are assessed.

It is explained that the organisations responsible for the two systems, CRIRSCO and the UNECE, regard the systems as complementary. To facilitate correlation between the systems a ‘bridging document’ was jointly developed and released in 2015. An updated version of the ‘bridging document’ was formally adopted by the UNECE, and officially released, in April 2024, together with a guidance note on its usage, produced jointly by CRIRSCO and the UNECE. A brief overview of the bridging document and how it can be applied in the context of strategic projects, as defined by the CRMA, is provided.

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Dr. Alastair Moyes