• COUNTRY IN FOCUS
All images supplied by SRK Consulting
Old Artisanal workings in pit face – Copper Belt-DRC.
CMSI – MINING PLAYERS IN DRC, CHINA EMBRACE FAST-EVOLVING REGULATION
Supplied by SRK Consulting, edited by Sharyn Macanamara
As decision-makers arrive in Lubumbashi for another DRC Mining Week, the recently initiated Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative( CMSI) is expected to stimulate discussions at this year’ s event. SRK Consulting teams from Africa and China comment on the recently initiated CMSI.
According to Dominique Sambwa, chair of SRK Congo, mining players in the Democratic Republic of Congo( DRC) are responding to the fast-evolving environmental, social and governance( ESG) landscape.“ Having moved quite quickly from a state-controlled mining industry to one that encourages private investment, the DRC has been developing its local legislation,” he said.
Sambwa added that at the same time,“ Larger global companies operating in the DRC have been driving global standards – and the prospect of a consolidated mining standard in the future is raising considerable interest.”
DRC-China-SA collaboration Sambwa explained that the presence of many China-based mining companies in the DRC had led to concerted collaboration between SRK teams in China, the DRC and South Africa since 2022, assisting Chinese clients in compliance with local legislation and global standards.
Li pointed out that despite a will to comply, the journey is slow and can be confusing due to a universal complexity.“ Many of our clients find themselves in a situation where their financiers want them to comply with one standard, while their supply chain might prefer another.”
A unified mining standard The work of the CMSI, he noted, is therefore an exciting development, as many companies would favour a more streamlined focus on a single set of requirements. The consolidated CMSI aims to bring together the best aspects of four well-established standards: the Copper Mark’ s Risk Readiness Assessment( RRA) 1; the Mining Association of Canada’ s‘ Towards Sustainable Mining( TSM)’ standard 2; the World Gold Council’ s‘ Responsible Gold Mining Principles’ 3 and the ICMM’ s‘ Mining Principles’ 4. The intention is to arrive at one global standard that reduces complexity and clarifies responsible practices for mining companies of all sizes, and across all locations and commodities.
Frank Li, principal geologist in SRK’ s Beijing practice, travels extensively to the DRC as part of this collaboration. Li added that SRK’ s role in the DRC has expanded well beyond its technical services and into international standards compliance.
“ SRK is engaging closely with the process of developing the CMSI, to ensure that we are fully up to date with this new standard as it evolves, until it is published and can be applied,” said Li.“ We are also ideally positioned to assist companies in
12 • African Mining • June 2025 www. africanmining. co. za