81309411 - Digital Mineral Traceability in Sierra Leone and Liberia

The objective of the tender is to develop (in Sierra Leone and Liberia) and implement (in Sierra Leone) a digital chain of custody process to digitally trace the export back to the artisanal mine and the dealer and reference to all the steps in the chain of custody from source to dealer, to exporter and destination buyer, as well as the asset type and quantity. This is done by digitally recording sales and purchase data along the supply chain from production to export. Additionally, due diligence data on human rights, social and environmental aspects, that are to be collected by other means, should be integrated in the traceability information. To this end, the remote application that is used in the field to collect and enter data into the MCAS system in Sierra Leone needs to provide functionality to collect data relating to due diligence of minerals supply chains.

Artisanal miners, small-scale miners, dealers, and exporters are registered with licenses in MCAS. The MCAS valuation module processes and issues export certificates at the point of export, which also contain the export destination. However, diamond and gold exports from exporters are not digitally traced back to their respective production site. This is particularly the case with artisanal production, but also to some degree with small-scale mining. It is done manually by tracking the data from the artisanal miners" "sales receipt book" and the dealers" "purchase book" and then connected with the export certificate.

Currently, there are independent processes implemented through separate systems, which cover different objects of interest:

In Sierra Leone,

- Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS): Collection of data on due diligence of human rights and conflict free raw materials - Environmental Cadastre Administration System (ECAS): Extension of system to digitally record data from environmental audits

In Liberia

- Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS): Collection of data on exploration and mining permits, monitoring and compliance of mining activities. - Office of Precious Minerals responsible for overseeing the mining and extraction of precious minerals within Liberia. The office regulates and manages activities related to the exploration, exploitation, and exportation of minerals and does this paper-based and without being integrated into the MCAS system.

However, the methodology and location of data collection have clear overlaps and synergies which shall be used to achieve the following advantages:

- Shared use of technical resources: With a harmonisation of the IT landscape it is possible to use shared systems and shared technical personnel in the backend systems. In a market with limited IT operation experience this can help for training of dedicated staff to dedicated software systems and has therefore also a chance of cost efficiency, process security and quality assurance on technical infrastructure.

- Efficient audits: By using the same system at the same location in different contexts it is still possible to combine resources, which makes audits more efficient as well for the ministries (shared resources) and the mines (less interruption in production process).

- Shared use of knowledge: Audit findings can be exchanged between the sectors and thus lead to corresponding overarching findings and therefore to improvements in the audit processes

This does not mean that the system should be used to exchange personnel resources between the ministries. However, the tender is intended to harmonise the software systems in the respective countries in order to benefit from the advantages mentioned above. Before the harmonisation of the software systems, however, the MCAS in Sierra Leone shall be expanded to include functions that will enable the National Minerals Agency of Sierra Leone (NMA) to document the supply chain of artisanal gold and diamonds and thus improve the traceability of mineral supply chains from the country. In Liberia, a concept and software specifications should be developed on how MCAS needs to be expanded to include functions that will enable the documentation of the supply chains of artisanal gold and diamonds. The final work package consists of modernizing ECAS by digitalizing a number of forms that are currently processed manually, so that EPA field staff and mine monitors can enter them offline into their tablets to be uploaded to the database as soon as there is internet connection, and additionally via a desktop form. By using the same backend and form creation system as in MCAS the two systems are harmonized to achieve the aforementioned advantages. In addition, digital checklists for environmental inspections are to be integrated into the system to enable the digital recording of environmental data during inspections using handheld devices.