Lynx Aligns New and Existing Standards with the Touch of a Button

Lynx is the software solution built specifically to help mining companies best manage their sustainability data. Our platform provides capabilities that align a single point of data entry to many sustainability standards. Last week, Lynx welcomed news of another standard set to kick off, the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030. The initiative, which will be supported by the United Nations, major mining companies and investors themselves, plans to introduce a new set of standards for sustainability in the mining industry.

Lynx not only helps mining companies to meet their sustainability goals, but also track the progress of their sustainability initiatives. With Lynx, mining companies can easily track many of the same categories of ESG reform proposed by the 2030 commission, like waste management, biodiversity protection, and child labor.

Aside from aiding in managing data, Lynx can also help mining companies to measure their sustainability initiatives and drive efficiency. Lynx integrates with existing monitoring and sampling practices to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. This ensures that mining companies can focus on sustainability practices and are aware of any potential risks to their operations.

But mining companies have carried out these practices for years. Why are new standards and regulatory entities emerging? Three main factors drive the adoption of technologies that will align standards.

First, consumers are becoming more aware of the sources and conditions under which their material goods are produced. 90% of our cobalt is processed in China from sources in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mines have extremely challenging working conditions that challenge human safety, health and dignity. An appearance by modern slavery expert Siddharth Kara on the Joe Rogan podcast sparked recent popular interest in the subject.

Second, standards are getting more specific. For example, Coppermark works with organizations throughout the copper industry, enabling mining companies to better understand and meet the increasing demands for independently verified responsible production practices. Or take the Global Battery Alliance. At Davos this year ,the Global Battery Alliance launched the world’s first battery passport proof-of-concept pilots. The GBA conceptualized the Battery Passport as a framework to increase transparency across the battery value chain. Audit standards are also becoming more widespread. And if mining companies want to sell their outputs to BMW or Tesla, they’ll need to follow standards like IRMA, the auditable methodology of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance.

Lastly, investors no longer see ESG reporting as a “nice-to-have”, but rather a fundamental part of due diligence. On a recent call with a group of mining and metals investors, one put it succinctly when she mentioned ESG reporting should be part of “efficient and crisp” diligence before investing.

We built Lynx to help industry align reporting standards in a user-friendly way. The ease of operating our platform for users on the ground is important. The adoption of data technologies, not more talk of “strategy” will ultimately produce results in the mining industry, in addition to impact at the mine-site level. At Lynx we encourage exploration company directors to think seriously about how capturing ESG data now will not only reduce risk, but create a far more efficient and investable asset in the process.