The first virtual meeting of CRIRSCO took place from 14-19 September chaired by Ken Lomberg the Chairperson of CRIRSCO. The virtual platform allowed the meeting to include additional delegates from the National Reporting Organisations (NROs) Various interested parties were also able to attend. This allowed a broader group to become familiar with the workings of CRIRSCO.
Six 3-hour sessions were held on each of the 6 days with as many as 75 participants on any given day joining from all corners of the world.
All of the 14 NROs were able to join starting at 12:00 GMT albeit with Canada at 5 am and Australia at 10 pm and everybody else in between. Each NRO presented the activities they have undertaken in the past 12 months. The details are on the CRIRSCO.com website.
As well as discussing the strategy of CRIRSCO, a review of the 15 Standard Definitions contained in the International Reporting Template commenced.
A total of 7 countries – China, Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador, and Mexico presented to the meeting on the status of their application to become a member of CRIRSCO. The level of interest, enthusiasm and professionalism applied bodes well for the future health of the CRIRSCO organisation.
The strategic relationships with The International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), the Expert Group on Resource Management (EGRM) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA) were discussed.
Presentations were received from; Tom Butler CEO of the ICMM on the recently published Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management and Teresa Steel-Schober from SAMREC and Ruth Allington from the Pan European Reserves and Resources Committee (PERC) on Environmental and Social Governance (ESG).