ITSCI (ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative)

The ITSCI (ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative) Programme is a supply chain transparency and traceability scheme for 3TG minerals — particularly tin, tantalum, and tungsten — operating in artisanal mining regions of Central Africa, including the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi. ITSCI implements a bagging and tagging system at mining sites to track mineral origin from mine to export, and includes an incident reporting system to identify and address human rights and security incidents. ITSCI membership is widely used by smelters as evidence of responsible upstream sourcing for RMAP audits.

ITRI Ltd / Pact ITSCI Programme documentation; OECD Due Diligence Guidance, Third Edition (2016); RMI RMAP Guidance.

ITSCI plays a critical operational role in enabling responsible sourcing from the DRC and adjoining countries. Smelters that source from ITSCI-covered mines can use ITSCI documentation as evidence of responsible upstream sourcing during RMAP audits. Downstream companies sourcing through ITSCI-covered smelters have higher confidence in the responsible origin of their minerals. However, ITSCI’s effectiveness and coverage have been subject to NGO scrutiny regarding governance gaps.

A tantalum processor sources ore from Rwanda through a certified ITSCI member. The bagging and tagging records allow the processor to trace each mineral shipment to a specific mine of origin. This documentation is presented during the processor’s RMAP audit as evidence of responsible upstream sourcing from a historically high-risk region.