CTC Certification Scheme

The CTC system relies on regular independent third party audits to assess trading chain traceability and transparency, as well as mining company/producer performance with respect to the CTC standard set. A National Certification Unit oversees the CTC system at the national level and issues CTC certificates. Audits are based on a review of documentation as well as site inspections and key informant interviews in order to verify the plausibility of information.
The certification process targets two major areas:

Trading Chain Rwanda Source: BGR

1) Transparency and traceability of mineral trading chains (CTC Principle 1)
Upstream mineral trading chains start at the production site and include all steps of internal and external mineral upgrading, shipping and trading within the host country, export, and import on behalf of an industrial consumer. Precise, accurate, and verifiable shipping documentation comprises information on origin, amount, type and quality of traded commodities; this information needs to be maintained and updated throughout the trading chain, and has to be made available to a third-party auditor upon request in the frame of trading chain certification.
This approach ensures that origin and trade of minerals produced are traceable, as demanded by responsible metal buyers. For CTC auditing purposes, the auditor is required to evaluate trading chain integrity by performing plausibility checks where information from different sources (documentation, interviews, site inspections) is verified and cross-referenced, e.g., by comparing numbers of artisanal miners, payments made to the miners, and usage of mining equipment and explosives to mineral production figures recorded for a given concession in a given time period. The AFP approach, directly integrated into CTC standard 1.1, may serve as an additional checking instrument to evaluate trading chain integrity, or to allow additional positive trading chain certification.
Standards associated with CTC principle 1 also require mineral producers to respect fiscal obligations to the host country and to facilitate payment transparency by disclosing payments made to governments, and by actively opposing fraudulent payments and bribery. In the DR Congo under principles 1 this includes also to check for the involvement of armed groups or their affiliates.

2) Mine site performance with respect to ethical production standards (CTC Principles 2-5)
Compliance with the CTC standard set ensures fair and responsible treatment of company employees and artisanal miners at mineral production sites by protecting their workers’ and social rights (including gender equality and occupational health and safety issues). CTC standards further demand good practice by mining companies with respect to their environmental performance, security, and community relations.

CTC flowchart Rwanda Source: BGR