A responsible mineral sourcing ecosystem for Africa

At the Dubai Precious Metals Conference 2024, the Africa Responsible Mineral Sourcing Initiative (ARMSI) was launched by the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) and partners

ARMSI aims to promote transparency, compliance, traceability, accountability, social responsibility, and sustainability within Africa’s minerals and mining sector. Ultimately, it will unite countries, industry, and civil society to help ensure that the continent’s mineral wealth positively contributes to its economic development.

The reveal was attended by a number of stakeholders including a range of African Ministers and officials responsible from Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Uganda; as well as representatives from central banks financial institutions, mining companies, refineries, traders, investors, civil society, and leaders from the global precious metals industry.

“The Africa Responsible Mineral Sourcing Initiative (ARMSI) is about redefining Africa's role in the global precious metals and critical minerals industry by ensuring that artisanal and small-scale miners-often the backbone of mineral production-become central players in responsible, ethical and sustainable mining practices,” remarked Moses Micheal Engadu, secretary-general of AMSG.

“The goal of ARMSI, an initiative of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group is to create a central gateway for responsibly sourced and ethically mined minerals from Africa to the global markets. ARMSI will build Africa's responsible mineral sourcing ecosystem shifting away from raw material exportation towards sustainable value-added industry development to foster local employment, stimulate economic growth and secure a competitive position for African minerals in the global market.”

African mining to support African development

At the launch event, the ARMSI roadmap was unveiled, emphasising the developing of Africa Responsible Mineral Sourcing Guidelines and a comprehensive Manual led by the AMSG. Sub-regional stakeholder engagement forums will be held across the continent as part of the roadmap in order to promote responsible sourcing practices and gather insights.

Ultimately, these initiatives will lay the groundwork for the launch of the Guidelines and Manual in May 2025. Countries, industry players and civil society organisations have been encouraged to contribute to this effort to ensure their voices are heard.

The first secured physical delivery of responsibly sourced gold and silver under the ARMSI will reportedly be completed by February 2025 and will be executed by the Africa Minerals and Metals Exchange (AMME), an initiative of the AMSG that aims to facilitate secure transactions, enhance market transparency, ensure traceability, certify compliance with regulatory standards and facilitate responsible sourcing of precious metals. The delivery will be completed with selected members of ARMSI and AMME.

The launch of the initiative was met with widespread support from attending ministers who reiterated their commitment to fostering responsible and sustainable mining. Fahnseth Buggie Mulbah, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Liberia, commented, “Through the Africa Responsible Mineral Sourcing Initiative (ARMSI), we aim to strengthen compliance and transparency across the gold supply chain. I call upon all stakeholders-both locally and internationally-to ensure that gold sourced from artisanal and small-scale miners adheres to the required licenses, permits, and chain of custody systems. Let us work together under ARMSI to champion accountability, sustainability, and ethical practices in the precious metals sector.”