UNFC resources reporting code and national mineral resources accounting

Government organisations compile mineral resource data for national resource accounting. The information is collected and used in research, planning of mineral exploration, and in decision making on national and EU level mineral policies. The data are a combination of publicly disclosed information from active and non-active projects and historical mineral inventories, at extremely variable degree of data density. The databases contain both commercially viable resources and commodity endowments without consideration of economic viability in foreseeable future. Only the former can be reported according to current industrial standards as required by stock exchanges. A harmonised way to describe all resource data is the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) resources reporting code which reflects the geological uncertainty and the different project maturity levels. The UNFC code allows also for resource classes where the data density is low and no technical, environmental, social nor economic viability are assessed.

To achieve a coherent and consistent resource aggregation within and across countries, to support the activities to secure future sustainable raw material supply and sustainable resource management, it is necessary that: 1) the UNFC classification is used in systematic and transparent way within all countries, and 2) there is a common agreement on principles of how to move forward in national-level aggregations in systematic and harmonized way. We see that the key issues are in dealing with data gaps and inconsistent application of the UNFC code. We aim to provide solutions in various cases with data gaps, and where we have seen non-consistency appearing.