LONDON -- ITRI and T.I.C. have extended their raw mineral tracking and traceability agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ministry of Mines to a larger area of the country.

The new memorandum of understanding, an addendum to the Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), was agreed following an evaluation of progress by Ministry experts, who report improved transparency and statistics of production, and resulting tax revenues, as well as increased government control and governance in the stanniferrous mineral sector in Katanga.

The iTSCi was developed in 2008 as a collaboration between the international tin industry (represented by ITRI) and the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Centre (T.I.C.). Its traceability system uses uniquely numbered tags to permit companies to confirm the actual source and trading chain of the minerals they purchase. iTSCi also incorporates risk assessments (and respective adapted risk mitigation strategies), data management and analysis, and regular independent audits.

The extension "paves the way for iTSCi activities in Maniema and the Kivu’s, and reflects the evolving role of iTSCi in the tantalite and wolframite sectors, in addition to cassiterite, as well as the formally structured arrangements of the company membership agreement under which the project is now jointly managed through ITRI and T.I.C.," the organizations said in a statement. The document strengthens the concept of training and capacity building for Ministry services in the field in order to highlight their anticipated increasing responsibility for traceability in the future, and also emphsizes the role of the local stakeholder committees in raising issues and finding solutions, the organizations said.

Katanga is the only province where iTSCi currently operates.

A UN task group in December credited iTSCi for its assistance in building the DRC government's mining capacity, safeguarding miners at tagged mining sites and, "according to some North Katanga civil society activists, to reduce corruption among state officials in the mining sector.”

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