Tackling responsible sourcing risk in electronic supply chains

The new Responsible Minerals Module leverages data from the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), including smelter-level details on Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (RCOI), to identify and assess risks in conflict mineral supply chains. It is the only supply chain data management platform to align its responsible minerals offering with the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.

With these latest updates, the Assent Compliance Platform reinforces its position as the industry’s leading cloud-based responsible minerals data management tool. Because of its advanced backend infrastructure and data-agnostic nature, the Assent Compliance Platform’s Responsible Minerals Module can be quickly scaled to include additional materials as the industry continues to expand and redefine due diligence requirements.

By leveraging Assent’s supply chain data management platform, companies can now ensure their responsible minerals risk is integrated with their wider corporate risk program.

“Smelters have long been the ideal pinch point where information related to mineral origin can be collected but, traditionally, compiling this data has been an overwhelming challenge for most organisations because it can be prohibitively costly and time-consuming,” said Jared Connors, Corporate Social Responsibility Subject Matter Expert at Assent.

“By integrating data from a number of industry groups and offering details on RCOI directly within the Assent Compliance Platform, companies are now able to have a clearer picture of the potential risk within their global supply chains without all of the manual effort and concern associated with reaching out to smelters one-by-one.”

Key features include:

• Responsible minerals module: This new module now goes beyond conflict minerals to align with the RMI’s focus on responsible minerals mined in conflict-affected high-risk areas. With Assent’s infrastructure and data-agnostic nature, the platform can quickly scale to include additional minerals of concern.
• Cobalt reporting template: As demand increases for products such as lithium-ion batteries, companies can now add data related to their cobalt reporting program to the Assent Compliance Platform using the RMI’s industry-standard Cobalt Reporting Template, which has been built directly into the software.
• Reasonable country of origin enquiry data: Access RCOI data tied to conformant/non-conformant smelters as reported by the RMI. No more need to manually contact each smelter to document where they obtain their ore. Available to RMI members only.
• Advanced smelter library: Integrated with data from the RMI, the Assent Compliance Platform’s Smelter Library includes details on the conformant or non-conformant status of approximately 3,000 smelters and presents a proprietary rating of low, moderate or high risk based on a number of external factors.
• Supplier portal: Responsible minerals programs are only as good as the data collected from the supply chain. With new automated validation of CMRT and CRT declarations, plus additional customisation options, the supplier experience is now a smoother, more efficient process.