The International Raw Materials Observatory joined forces with the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and the Initiative on Forensic Geology (IFG), an initiative of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), to organise a workshop on the emerging scientific field of traceability of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) on 14 November 2023, 14:00-18:00 CET, in Brussels and online.
The workshop entitled Responsible Sourcing and Traceability of CRM was organised as a side event of the EU Raw Materials Week 2023.
About the workshop
Civilisation would not exist as we know it without the mineral resource upon which it relies. The future demand for critical geological raw materials is likely to increase significantly into the future. These materials include base metals, rare earth elements, platinum group metals (PGM), and certain metals such as cobalt, tungsten, tantalum and tin (3Ts) that mainly originate in areas of armed conflict. Their demand is driven by the need of new and alternative energy conversion technologies for the ‘Green Transition’, for information technology, and for the necessary infrastructure around the world. However, unfortunately, criminal activities may be often present in the supply-webs of these mineral raw materials. The respective beneficiaries are often well-organised syndicates, criminal gangs, cartels, or even terrorist groups.
The objective of this workshop was to provide an overview of how geologists, working together with international law enforcement, have an increasing role to help detect and deter crimes such as falsified documents of origin, theft, extortion, fakery, substitution, adulteration, and other fraud. Methods for provenance determination (predictive geolocation) and traceability are also presented to verify that such critical raw materials are responsibly sourced.
Presenters
- Laurance Donnely, IUGS-IFG
- Fabiana Di Lorenzo / Mrs. Anna Stancher, RMI
- Jean-Claude Guillaneau, BRGM
- Christopher Keane, AGI
- Nathan Williams, MineSpider
- Marko Komac, INTRAW & EFG
- Mieke Thierens, International Peace Information Service (IPIS)
- Ludivine Wouters, Latitude Five
More information can be found here: https://intraw.eu/workshop-responsible-sourcing-and-traceability-of-crm-14-november-2023/
