JORC Code 2024 – Modifying Factors, including ESG and Risk (AusIMM Bulletin)

Bruce Harvey FAusIMM(CP) and Geoff Deans FAusIMM(CP) discuss the recently released JORC Code Exposure Draft and Draft Guidance Notes in the context of disclosure requirements for Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations as classes of ‘Modifying Factors’.

JORC Code 2024 Update

The long-awaited Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code update Exposure Draft (JORC, 2024a) and draft Guidance Notes (JORC, 2024b), the result of prodigious review and discussion by the Committee and many contributors, is available for public comment until 31 October 2024. An evolution on JORC 2012, the updated draft modernises the disclosure requirements for Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations as classes of ‘Modifying Factors’. This integration of contemporary ‘ESG’ expectations is bolstered by the inclusion of risk assessments (analysing the consequences and uncertainty of opportunities and threats). The Exposure Draft Code responds to the greatly increased standards of transparency expected of the minerals industry by the financial sector, regulators and the public. In this light, it is important to revisit and consider the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the JORC Code, in line with its core principles of Transparency, Materiality, and Competence.