Sometimes it’s the little-known facts that echo with deafening effect, especially when circumstances dictate an interesting narrative. Rare earth minerals that help make neo magnets used to power the electronics of cars and mobile phones of today, have also been tagged with a dark and checkered past. How they are sourced is shrouded in controversy, but that looks like it should end, where a new landscape is being paved – a supply chain built on integrity. And integrity will be the focus for mining companies to march toward, and it is Grant Erskine, CFO of Perth’s forensic scientific analysis group, Source Certain International (SCI), strategising and driving the change.

The traditional role of a CFO has evolved. No longer are they just ‘a company’s numbers person’. They are now strategists, giants of business, making the likes of Erskine a formidable asset.

It’s no coincidence USA Rare Earth (USARE), operators of the Round Top Heavy Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Project, sought SCI to partner on a major paradigm shift around the legitimacy of the mining of raw earth minerals. The partnership is expected to add value and ensure the supply chains of global manufacturers sourcing rare earth minerals are legitimate, a move the US minerals giant has been looking to make. To succeed, it needs a certification program that validates the provenance and source of its minerals.

USARE’s partnership with SCI is not only an enforcement of good governance, but a shot across the bows of global manufacturers. Choice now exists, sourcing rare earth minerals from legitimate suppliers whose processes aren’t ethically or morally compromised, with ignorance no longer a defence. It’s now “change how you operate” or be forced to change and work with a trusted supply chain program SCI is establishing.

USARE prioritised the need to have independent robust systems that provide environmental, social responsibility and other quality assurance information for customers and consumers of rare earths, lithium and other critical raw materials from Round Top and other sources into USARE’s mine-to-magnet supply chain. USARE’s partnership with SCI provides U.S. manufacturers, technology companies and renewable energy producers proof of provenance to support their own ESG initiatives and assurances to their customers.

The strategy Erskine has engineered requires mining suppliers of input material to sign onto a transparent, traceable and trusted supply chain program. For that to happen, USARE have to begin as a single company and create a best practice system that is adopted by rare earth supply chains looking to access the US and Australian markets.

USARE’s supply chain transparency initiative comes as the U.S. Government focuses on domestic supply chain integrity concerns ranging from availability, manufacturing and social responsibility to matters of national and economic security. US President Joe Biden has signed an Executive Order instructing a review of supply chain vulnerabilities within the US and strengthen the country’s resilience and capacity for critical goods and materials.

SCI’s technology supports USARE’s requirement for a transparent, traceable and trusted supply chain for its rare earth and lithium products like its permanent magnets. It also ensures the verification and provenance of all of USARE’s products. Furthermore, SCI forms an integral part of USARE’s mine-to-magnet and mine-to-market strategy, underpinned by its Ethical Services Guarantee commitments to ethical and sustainable sourcing and manufacturing in the US.

Pioneered in the 70s, SCI’s technology was used as a “gold fingerprinting” tool, linking stolen gold to its mine of origin. Now, the technology, known as TSW Trace™, is used by SCI as a verification and investigative tool in the supply chain of all global industries, including mining.

As a CFO responsible for the commercial strategy at SCI, Erskine says it’s critical that SCI embeds its technology in programs that incentivise and reward business activity that delivers on the sustainable and ethical production of renewable energy and EVs, advancing a more environmentally sustainable future. “This program sets the industry standard for rare earths and a benchmark for other commodities and supply chains to follow,” Erskine says.

Global trends suggest an increased demand for critical and strategic minerals, and with it a movement toward greener technologies requiring input materials. But current geopolitical tensions are leading to supply security concerns and a demand for ethical sourcing as an industry standard. To safeguard itself, the US is securing supply and forming what resembles a trading block. For the US to achieve its objective, it has extended invitations to Australia, Europe, the UK, Japan and India to join and reduce dependence on other countries.

And while Australia joins the US in its quest to clean up the industry, it is securing supply and adding value to the national battery industry. The Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICR) is bringing almost 60 industry groups, eight universities, the CSIRO, and Federal and State Governments together to create an Australian-based battery industry to power Australia’s future.

With some $130 million in reserve, the FBICR will position Australia as a leader in battery industries and create a generation of highly skilled workers equipped to deliver the energy materials, systems and accreditation processes of the future. According to Erskine, SCI is bringing together industry, researchers, government and the community to ensure Australia plays a leading role in the global battery revolution.

“Our work,” Erskine says, “is critical in making Australian industry more competitive by harnessing research skills and industry expertise required to create new economic opportunities through secure, sustainable and trusted materials and products for the renewable energy and EV industries.”

“Not only is it for mining the input materials but also manufacturing and moving from a primary producer towards creating a full value chain of battery production in Australia.”

Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy document in 2019 stated the industry’s goal was “the development of Australia’s critical minerals sector, including downstream processing and manufacturing opportunities, by attracting investment, supporting innovation and connecting opportunities with infrastructure.” Implementing the ACMS strategy would reinforce Australia’s credentials for environmental and social responsibility through the authentication of materials using scientific provenance technology to verify the origin of Australian mined CSM and rare earths.

Erskine says, “SCI and its provenance verification technology will be critical to helping the CRC drive an industry-wide standard where ethically and sustainably sourced and manufactured claims are robustly verified.”

“It will help ensure the financial incentive and reward for the battery minerals sector to deliver on ethical, sustainable and transparent mining practices that could set the benchmark for other commodities and supply chains to follow.”

Cameron Scadding, SCI’s Managing Director, says, “We see the good and the bad with what SCI does. We’re excited to work with USARE and support their strategy to incentivise large and artisanal sized mining operations globally to sustainably and ethically mine input material for their Neo Magnet plant in Texas.”

According to Erskine, it will be the sound of integrity and ethical sustainable supply chains that will now echo throughout the corridors of global manufacturers. “This will be the best sound of all and for the raw earth minerals sector, it will be a reverberating echo worth listening to,” Erskine says.

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