Wrap Up on IRTC 2023

Excellent three days in Lille at the IRTC | International Round Table on Materials Criticality conference last week.

I want to start by thanking and congratulating the organisers and their outstanding team for a well-orchestrated event.

There were a lot of interesting and important insights, ideas and proposals shared, so I just picked a few highlights – looking forward to continuing to discuss these and other matters when I attend #pdac2023 in just 10 days: see you in Toronto !

Constanze Veeh (DG GROW, European Commission) discussed ongoing EU initiatives, including the upcoming CRM Act: aside from signalling priority needs (which may entail refocusing on selected minerals and materials), bolstering monitoring and risk mitigation (which may drive new decision-making on strategic stocks), strengthening European value chains (through key projects to fund or support) and maintain a strong focus on sustainability and circularity, the emergence of a CRM governance structure (committee, agency or platform) and increasing focus on mineral diplomacy are high on the agenda – so we’ll keep watching this space !

A keynote conversation on the concept of criticality led to thought-provoking discussions of how these stakes are approached and negotiated in the global arena: consensus-building and shared interests are required, yet echoes of colonialist, imperialistic approaches remain strong; the disconnect between diplomatic or position statements and on-the-ground actions and realities in resource-rich countries breeds mistrust; and standards, even when developed through international platforms where all perspectives and interests are negotiated, are routinely ignored by some countries and/or decried as a trade impediment by others.

And interestingly, an entire session was dedicated to changing demand: all too often, the criticality discourse focuses on sourcing and using materials; yet managing and even reducing demand are essential to our collective responsibility in respecting planetary boundaries, reducing inequalities and fostering a global order that supports a fair transition.

Other notable and/or disruptive insights, from speakers and initiatives to keep on your radar:

• A discussion of paradoxes in material criticality, revealing the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon and the risk that urgency drive focus on "solutions" to a problem that is not fully understood, undermining their very effectiveness, by Yulia Lapko
• Some challenging ideas and questions raised about the geography of control by Alberto Prina Cerai , starting with the stark reminder that “control” is not a linear continuous function of percentage of extraction or production shares
• Updates on the revival of the French rare earths processing industry by Alain Rollat of CARESTER which is driving two market-leading initiatives: an end-of-life magnet recycling unit and a heavy rare earth separation hub
• A surprising take on state sovereignty over raw materials in the era of planetary boundaries by Daria Boklan of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, including a review of WTO jurisprudence related to rare earth and raw materials trade and the current Indonesia – Raw Materials case
• The ambitious proposal for an international resource transition strategy for global real change and relating International Resource Transition Convention, developed as a cooperation between a few front-runner countries and key research groups and supported by the innovative Resource Wende Coalition

As is sadly and frequently the case, the voice of the mining industry was sometimes severely dissonant with the constructive, multi-dimensional discussions. A tone-deaf discourse, characterised by the lack of consideration of other perspectives and insular positions on “what’s needed to mine” and “this is how we do things”, feeds negative sentiment and demonstrates how far we still need to go to be able to responsibly deliver the materials critical to a shared future.

#IRTC #responsiblemining #responsiblesourcing #sustainability #criticalminerals #latitudefive