Critical minerals data quality and standards

Surging global demand for minerals critical to clean energy and other advanced technologies has highlighted numerous market information failures. Poor data quality throughout supply chains, limited use of credible traceability systems, and the uneven development of relevant standards characterize current markets. Specific issues reflect disparities between documented and undocumented production; inconsistent classification and reporting templates; limited market transparency; under-reporting of critical minerals that are by-products of major "host" commodities of greater interest to capital markets; uneven use of ESG standards that affect differentiation of "resources" from "reserves"; the early development of global technical standards in a context of proliferating sustainability and ESG standards; and factors affecting standards uptake, implementation and reporting. The associated information failures pose major challenges for evidence-based policy-making, work to facilitate responsible investment, and delivery of sustainable resource management at national and international levels. Innovative methods are needed to help resolve these failures so as to ensure effective policy design and implementation.This Research Topic aims to explore the scale, reasons and policy implications of such critical minerals market information failures globally. The guiding hypothesis is that new ways of resolving these failures could, if implemented through effective international coordination, enhance market efficiency, strengthen supply chain resilience through improved transparency, and enhance the prospects of delivering global goals such as a clean energy transition over the next 15-25 years while reducing sustainability-related risks. Critical minerals policy issues are increasingly prominent in a complex and rapidly evolving geo-political landscape. The issues to be covered are both topical and of substantive importance at the rapidly developing interface between scientific research and the availability of credible evidence needed for good policy-making. Contributions including case studies of specific minerals should identify where up-to-date evidence can offer useful insights into the central issues and should, where possible, propose practical methods - including through interdisciplinary initiatives and use of innovative digital platform design - designed to enhance data quality and related standards for specified critical minerals.Contributions should focus on one or more minerals which are usually produced as by-products of major “host” mineral commodities, such as Aluminium, Copper, Gold, Iron, Lead, Nickel, Platinum, Tin, and Zinc. The economic by-products of such “host” commodities could include those such as Antimony, Bismuth, Cobalt, Germanium, Gallium, Indium, Manganese, Molybdenum, Niobium, Platinum Group Metals, Rare Earth Elements, Rhenium, Selenium, Tantalum, Tellurium, and Tungsten. The policy-related focus of contributions should address one or more of the following eight themes: 1. undocumented production; 2. inconsistent classification and reporting; 3. by-product reporting; 4. standards-related factors affecting the estimation of "resources" and "reserves"; 5. options for harmonization of minerals standards and standards-setting processes; 6. gaps to be filled in global technical standards; 7. options for harmonizing sustainability and ESG standards where relevant to the minerals of interest; 8. options for improving standards uptake, implementation and reporting.9. proper information failure and the effects on sustainable resource management. Topic editors: Simon Strickland, Rudra N Samajdar, Mukesh Kumar Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78035/critical-minerals-data-quality-and-standards