Monitoring programme for artisanal mine sites, run from 2018 by RCS Global: initial site assessments, permanent on-the-ground monitoring and monthly corrective action plans, with the data reported to buyers. In April 2020 it monitored three artisanal cobalt sites and aimed at six that year and twelve or more by 2023, with the Responsible Minerals Initiative providing strategic support and funding. In August 2020 Huayou Cobalt, a founding partner, extended its monitoring of the Kasulo and Kamilombe sites for two more years, a site near Likasi was added, and the programme said it would coordinate its efforts with the Fair Cobalt Alliance. A 2021 UNICEF release puts its wider scope at over 40 artisanal sites across cobalt, copper and 3TG minerals in the Great Lakes region. SLR acquired RCS Global in October 2022, and in June 2026 “SLR Better Mining” signed a memorandum with the Child Rights Action Hub DRC to refer child-labour cases for remediation; that is the one source for its current activity, as the programme's own pages could not be read. The domain bettermining.org now belongs to an unrelated Nigerian company.
Read the full profile on the Hub →
Sources support the description and the individual connections below. Publication and checking dates belong to the evidence: when it was published, and when this Hub last read it.
Reported means the cited source describes the relationship at its evidence date. Historical relationships refer to an earlier period. Announced agreements may not have been implemented. None of these labels confirms that trade continues today.
Better Mining was already monitoring Kamilombe in August 2020, under its partnership with Huayou Cobalt, which extended that monitoring for a further two years. No later source names the site.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
Better Mining was already monitoring Kasulo in August 2020, under its partnership with Huayou Cobalt, which extended that monitoring for a further two years. No later source names the site.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
Better Mining announced in August 2020 that it would coordinate its efforts with the Fair Cobalt Alliance; no joint activity is reported.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
Huayou Cobalt, a foundational partner when Better Mining began in 2018, extended the partnership in August 2020 to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe sites for a further two years, to about August 2022.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
Memorandum of understanding signed in June 2026 with SLR Better Mining, co-signed by The Centre for Child Rights and Business, on identifying child-labour cases and giving access to remedy: Better Mining refers the cases it finds to the Action Hub for follow-up and remediation.
SLR Better Mining will also refer identified child labour cases to the Action Hub for follow-up and remediation
RCS Global ran Better Mining from 2018: initial site assessments, permanent on-the-ground monitoring and monthly corrective action plans. SLR acquired RCS in October 2022, and by 2026 the programme ran as SLR Better Mining.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
The RMI will provide strategic support, funding, stakeholder engagement, and advice to RMI members and cobalt refiners
SLR has acquired RCS Global Group (“RCS”), a global leader in data driven ESG performance, responsible sourcing and responsible mining assurance and technology.
In April 2020 the Responsible Minerals Initiative said it would provide strategic support, funding, stakeholder engagement and advice to scale Better Mining's monitoring of cobalt sites, with a horizon of 2023; nothing after August 2020 shows the funding continuing.
extend Better Mining’s partnership with Huayou Cobalt, China’s largest cobalt refiner, to continue monitoring the Kasulo and Kamilombe mine sites for a further two years.
The RMI will provide strategic support, funding, stakeholder engagement, and advice to RMI members and cobalt refiners
Since SLR's acquisition of RCS Global, the programme runs as “SLR Better Mining”, which in June 2026 signed a memorandum with the Child Rights Action Hub DRC. This rests on The Centre's page and SLR's acquisition release; Better Mining's own pages could not be read.
SLR Better Mining will also refer identified child labour cases to the Action Hub for follow-up and remediation
SLR has acquired RCS Global Group (“RCS”), a global leader in data driven ESG performance, responsible sourcing and responsible mining assurance and technology.