Material and digital traceability for the certification of critical raw materials

MaDiTraCe’s main goal is to enlarge and integrate the portfolio of technological solutions reinforcing the reliability of critical raw material (CRM) tracking and the transparency of complex supply chains. The project aims to develop and test independent digital and geo-based approaches for CRM traceability and to integrate them with a generic certification scheme for CRMs throughout mineral supply chains from the mine to the manufactured and recycled products. The project intends to increase the TRL of experimental or largely untested methods in both domains, digital and material sciences. A special attention will be payed to the complexity of mineral supply chains with points of material aggregation and of transformation (processing, refining…) including circular economy (recycling). This methodology will enable downstream industrials to prove the reliability of their sustainability claims, complying with regulation in force (notably EU Battery regulation, German Supply Chain Act) and anticipating implementation of regulation to come (EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence).

MaDiTraCe’s fundament is a strong stakeholder process (WP1) with upstream and downstream industrials from mining to manufacturing industry and large networks involved via the consortia (EIT-RM) and clusters (ISMC) participating in the project. Continuous interaction with this industrial and policy-oriented stakeholder community on the traceability technology (WP2 and WP3) and the certification schemes (WP4) developed in the project will ensure to stay in line with industrial needs and expectations with respect to regulatory compliance. It will also facilitate implementation and exploitation (WP5) of the project outcomes.