← Where the supply chain is broken, and where knowledge is missing
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Fragmented traceability
Several assurance schemes audit mines, smelters and refiners against a standard and publish which sites took part. Each scheme keeps its own list, in its own format, under its own terms. There is no single place that shows which share of a material's supply comes from audited sites.
An audit of a site is not a statement about a product. A scheme may certify how a site is run without tracing the metal that leaves it. Tracing itself comes in forms that prove different things: with mass balance, certified and uncertified material may be mixed and only the totals are reconciled; with segregation or identity preservation, the certified material is kept apart. A buyer needs to know which one a claim rests on.
The atlas does not map these lists. Their terms of use do not allow it: two forbid copying or reuse and the third states no terms at all. So this page links to each list at its publisher, and the coverage measure for assurance stays empty for every material. That emptiness is the gap.
Public assurance lists, and why they are linked rather than mapped
Responsible Minerals Initiative, Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP)
What its public list coversSmelters and refiners assessed as conformant or active, for tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold, cobalt and other minerals.
Terms of use, as read on 12 November 2026The list sits behind an agreement to terms that forbid redistribution and derivative works without written consent.
Veramark Assurance (formerly The Copper Mark)
What its public list coversParticipating sites for copper, nickel, zinc and molybdenum, with assessment summaries.
Terms of use, as read on 12 November 2026Website terms reserve all rights, exclude commercial use, and forbid text or data mining and web scraping.
Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA)
What its public list coversMines that have been independently assessed against the IRMA standard, with audit reports.
Terms of use, as read on 12 November 2026No terms of reuse are published for the list, so reuse cannot be assumed.
Assurance known, per material
The share of production at sites on a public assurance list. Not computed for any material, because no list may be ingested.
Lithium
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Cobalt
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Nickel
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Copper
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Graphite
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Rare earths
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Gallium
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Germanium
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Tungsten
No public assurance list is ingested yet
Antimony
No public assurance list is ingested yet
What would fix this
- A data licence from the schemes that lets an open atlas show conformance status per site, with the date of the audit. The request has to come from the project's operator.
- Operators can state their own audit status on their site's profile, with a link to the scheme's public entry. Such entries are labelled operator-submitted and reviewed.
- Public registers that already exist under open terms, for example government lists of permitted refiners, can be added now.