Eramet announces the appointment of Virginie de Chassey, Chief Sustainability and External Affairs Officer and member of the Group’s Executive Committee, to the Board of Directors of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), effective September 10, 2026. Following a vote by IRMA’s Board of Directors, Eramet was selected to serve as a mining sector representative, with Virginie de Chassey representing the Group alongside Anglo American. Today, 115 mining companies and 140 mining sites are engaged in the IRMA system.
IRMA, the most robust standards for responsible mining
IRMA’s Board of Directors is the organisation’s governing and decision-making body, responsible for its strategic direction and playing a key role in overseeing IRMA’s programs and the organisation’s long-term sustainability. Its distinctive governance model gives equal representation and voting power to six constituencies: mining companies, affected communities and Indigenous rightsholders, organised labour, environmental and human rights NGOs, investors and finance, and purchasers of mined materials. Current Board members include representatives from Anglo American, Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft, alongside Human Rights Watch, IndustriALL Global Union, investment institutions and organizations representing affected communities and Indigenous rightsholders.
Mine assessments are conducted by independent third-party audit firms against the requirements of the IRMA Standard, independently from IRMA’s Board and governance. This separation is a core feature of IRMA’s model and ensures the integrity of the assessment process.
The recognition of Eramet’s longstanding commitment to responsible mining
The appointment marks a further step in Eramet’s longstanding commitment to responsible mining. Since 2022, the Group has decided to engage progressively with all its mining sites in the IRMA assessment process. Eramet has integrated the IRMA Standard into its responsible mining approach, as part of its Act for Positive Mining roadmap and its commitment to transparency, independent assessment, and continuous improvement.
Eramet’s engagement with IRMA has been translated into concrete progress across its operations. In February 2026, Eramet Grande Côte (EGC) in Senegal achieved the IRMA 50 performance level following an independent third-party audit, becoming the first Eramet operation to reach this level and the first mineral sands operation worldwide to do so. The detailed audit results were made publicly available, providing transparency on both the operation’s performance and areas for further improvement.
Since joining Eramet in 2018, Virginie de Chassey has led the Group’s sustainability and external affairs strategy and the deployment of its responsible mining roadmap. With more than 25 years of experience in sustainability, public affairs, and stakeholder engagement, her career spans both the upstream and downstream sides of the mineral value chain. Before joining Eramet, she spent 14 years in the automotive industry, giving her first-hand understanding of downstream expectations around responsible sourcing and sustainability.
