ISO/DIS 23664

Traceability of rare earths in the supply chain from mine to separated products

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DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
ISO/DIS 23664
ISO/TC 298 Secretariat: SAC
Voting begins on: Voting terminates on:
2020-11-26 2021-02-18
Traceability of rare earths in the supply chain from mine to
separated products
ICS: 73.020
THIS DOCUMENT IS A DRAFT CIRCULATED
FOR COMMENT AND APPROVAL. IT IS
THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND MAY
NOT BE REFERRED TO AS AN INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD UNTIL PUBLISHED AS SUCH.
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
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This document is circulated as received from the committee secretariat.
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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
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PROVIDE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION. ISO 2020
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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
Contents Page

Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................iv

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................v

1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

2 Normative references ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

3 Terms and definitions ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

4 Planning of traceability system ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

4.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

4.2 Documented Information .............................................................................................................................................................. 5

4.3 Counterparties ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

4.4 Unique identifier ................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

5 Operation of traceability system ......................................................................................................................................................... 5

5.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

5.2 Primary producer ................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

5.3 Mass balance ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

5.4 Identification ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

5.5 Blending and mixing .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6

5.6 Recycled rare earth material ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

5.7 Transactions .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

5.7.1 General...................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

5.7.2 Information........................................................................................................................................................................... 7

6 Information transmitted with shipments between adjacent nodes ...............................................................8

6.1 Mine .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8

6.2 Beneficiation plant ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9

6.3 6Hydrometallurgical plant .........................................................................................................................................................10

6.4 Trader/broker/blender ................................................................................................................................................................12

6.5 Separation plant ..................................................................................................................................................................................13

7 Performance evaluation ............................................................................................................................................................................14

8 Improvement .........................................................................................................................................................................................................15

8.1 General ........................................................................................................................................................................................................15

8.2 Nonconformity and corrective actions ............................................................................................................................15

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards

bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out

through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical

committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International

organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.

ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of

electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are

described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the

different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the

editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of

patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of

any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or

on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not

constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and

expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the

World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/

iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 298, Rare earth.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A

complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
Introduction
0.1 General

The adoption of a traceability system is a strategic decision for an organization that can help provide a

sound basis for a sustainable supply chain. A traceability system is a useful tool to assist an organization

operating within a rare earth supply chain to achieve defined goals and objectives within their overall

management system(s). The choice of how a traceability system is defined is influenced by regulations,

product characteristics, and end user expectations. The complexity of the traceability system may

vary depending on the nature of the product(s) within the supply chain, the sources of inputs, and the

objectives to be achieved.
The implementation of a traceability system by an organization depends on:

— technical limits inherent to the supply chain organization and products (i.e. nature of the raw

materials, size of the lots, collection and transport procedures, processing and packaging methods);

— the cost benefits of applying such a system,
— the characteristics of mining and processing, and
— the environmental impact, waste treatment and disposal processing.

The potential benefits of implementing a traceability system based on this document are:

— the ability to trace rare earth materials and products between mine and separated products;

— to reduce and prevent pollution;

— promotion of environmentally responsible and sustainable production of rare earths throughout

the supply chain;
— to align a rare earth supply chain with sustainable development goals;
— to provide better service for users/customers by supplying quality product

This document can be used by all participants in the rare earth supply chain. However, it is not the

intent of this document to require the need for:

— complete uniformity in the structure of traceability systems for different rare earth supply chains;

— alignment of documentation to the clause structure of this document;

— use of the specific terminology of this document within the rare earth supply chain.

In this document, the following verbal forms are used:
— “shall” indicates a requirement;
— “should” indicates a recommendation;
— “may” indicates a permission;
— “can” indicates a possibility or capability.

Information marked as “NOTE” is for guidance in understanding or clarifying the associated

requirement(s).
0.2 Description

This document describes a traceability system covering the rare earth supply chain between the

originating mine and separated rare earth products. This document is intended to give supply chain

members the ability to access information relating to rare earth materials or products as they pass

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ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)

through the supply chain. This information will include the identity of each business in the supply chain

which has handled the rare earth material or product shipment. This document will thereby make it

possible for the purchasers of separated rare earth products to identify the businesses in the supply

chain that were involved in the production processes.

The types of businesses in the rare earth supply chain that are considered in this document are the

following:

a) Mines - in which rare earth-bearing minerals are i) extracted as ore from the ground in solid form

by underground, open-pit or dredge mining methods, or, ii) extracted as a rare earth-bearing

solution from the ground using in-situ leaching/recovery methods, or as a solution using heap or

vat leaching methods,

b) Beneficiation plants – in which solid ore containing rare earth minerals is processed to concentrate

the rare earth minerals into one or more mineral concentrates,

c) Hydrometallurgical plants – in which either, i) the rare earth minerals is an ore or beneficiation

plant product are dissolved and the solution processed, or ii) an in-situ or heap leach or vat leach

solution, is processed. In either case, the hydrometallurgical plant produces a relatively pure

precipitated solid, or a concentrated solution, containing mixed rare earths and suitable as feed to

a separation plant,

d) Separation plants – in which mixed rare earth products from hydrometallurgical plants are

separated into one or more relatively pure products each containing one or more specific rare

earths to the substantial exclusion of other rare earths. Separation plant products are further

processed into alloys, magnets, catalysts and other materials in downstream operations outside

the rare earth supply chain considered herein,

e) Traders, brokers, and wholesalers – entities that handle rare earths, generally the products of

hydrometallurgical and separation plants, possibly re-package or blend material, but otherwise do

not change the chemical or physical nature of the rare earth-bearing material,

f) Transporters – businesses that move rare earth products between different businesses in the rare

earth supply chain.
The connections between the businesses are illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1 — Overview of rare earth supply chain: mine to separated products

It is recognized that some business entities conduct more than one of the above-mentioned activities

either at a single site or at two or more sites. For example, it is common for a mine to own and operate a

beneficiation plant, so its product is an upgraded concentrate rather than whole ore. It is also common

for a mining company to additionally own and operate a hydrometallurgical plant to process its ore

or mineral concentrate and so ship a purified mixed rare earth product to a separation plant or to a

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trader. Traders may be involved in the supply chain as indicated but also in the marketing of mineral

concentrates.

The scheme specified in this document does not demand perfect traceability. Pragmatically, it is

recognized that there will be occasions where whole chain traceability of rare earth materials and

products are neither possible nor commercially practical. Also, some supply chains may focus on certain

rare earth elements rather than on the full suite of rare earth elements. For example, the focus may be

on neodymium-praseodymium oxide (or NdPr oxides) which is a precursor material for NdFeB magnets

versus total rare earth oxides (TREO). Thus, rather than providing full traceability for all the rare earth

elements, some supply chains may choose to focus on this subset. These limitations and choices should

be recognized and taken into consideration when auditing against this document and should not be

taken as non-compliance of an otherwise compliant rare earth supply chain traceability system.

Not explicitly described in Figure 1 is the process of rare earth recycling. Recycled rare earth materials

could be inputs at several points in the supply chain model described in Figure 1. It is recognized

that recycling may comprise significant inputs or outputs for some rare earth supply chain nodes. By

their nature, recycled materials are often difficult to trace back the origin of the rare earth materials

such as a rare earth mine. Consequently, a percentage of the material in the supply chain may not be

traceable back to a source. Thus, if recycling is an important input or output for a supply chain, it is the

responsibility of the supply chain partners to define and disclose how recycling will be handled such

that the overall objectives of the traceability system are met (see Section 4.1).

Given that rare earth supply chains operate within and between different countries and varying legal

requirements, the documented information specifications in this document cannot stipulate all the

requirements for every situation. A measure of flexibility is allowed for supply chain businesses to

record further supplementary documented information, in their own non-standardized format, but

keyed to the same documented information requirements specified herein.
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DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/DIS 23664:2020(E)
Traceability of rare earths in the supply chain from mine to
separated products
1 Scope

This document specifies the requirements, and provides guidance, for the design and use of a

traceability system when a rare earth supply chain needs to specify the information to be recorded by

rare earth supply chain businesses during the passage of rare earth materials or products through the

supply chain from mine to separated products.

The documented information will assist purchasers and suppliers of separated rare earth products

to identify parties in the supply chain who process a given shipment of rare earth material, and the

location of that rare earth material as it passes between supply chain nodes.
2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content

constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For

undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISO 9000, Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary

ISO 22444-1, Rare earth — Vocabulary — Part 1: Minerals, oxides and other compounds

ISO 22927, Rare earth — Packaging and labelling
3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 9000, ISO 22444-1, ISO 22927

and the following apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
beneficiation plant

node that receives unprocessed ore from mines and produce a rare earth concentrate using various

methods, such as, gravity or magnetic concentration, or froth flotation
3.2
confidential information

information related to product traceability that a company possesses that, although it might share with

a counterparty, usually within a non-disclosure agreement, it does not wish to become public

Note 1 to entry: Confidential information might be considered as such by the possessor because of legal or

business reasons.
1) Under preparation.
2) Under preparation.
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3.3
counterparty

business or other entity that either supplies or receives rare earth-bearing material, to or from a

given party

Note 1 to entry: A party’s counterparties may be its supplier of rare earth-bearing material or product; or the

customer to whom it supplies rare earth-bearing material or product.
3.4
data matrix code
two-dimensional code that contains encoded data

Note 1 to entry: There are several data matrix systems in use including Quick Response (QR) code (see

ISO 17367:2013), Portable Data File (PDF) 417 (see ISO 15438:2015) , and Han Xin code (see ISO/IEC CD 20830) .

3.5
end product
separated or partially separated rare earth product
3.6
end user
customer that buys and/or uses a rare earth separated product
3.7
entity
node that exists separately from other nodes and has a clear identity of its own
3.8
hydrometallurgical plant

node that receives ore from mines, or mineral concentrates from beneficiation plants, or solutions from

in situ leach operations, extract rare earths from other elements by a series chemical and/or thermal

processes, and generate a purified mixed rare earth concentrate
3.9
node
rare earth supply chain business and/or organization

EXAMPLE rare earth mine, beneficiation plant, hydrometallurgical plant, separation plant, and trading

company, broker, or blender.

Note 1 to entry: Other nodes not identified in this document may also be considered as part of the traceability

system if their contribution to the rare earth supply chain is substantial (e.g., sources of recycled rare earth

materials).

Note 2 to entry: The movement between nodes is generally downstream although lateral movements are possible

(e.g., from one separation plant to another, or upstream movement, such as the reprocessing of recycled material

scrap sources of rare earths or off-specification rare earth material). The movement of material through a rare

earth supply chain may include substantial holding periods while material is being warehoused or passing

through a process with a long residence time.
3.10
primary producer

business or company involved in primary production of rare earth ores or materials

EXAMPLE rare earth mine, ionic clay processor.
3.11
rare earth ore

naturally occurring solid material containing rare earth minerals that can be commercially exploited

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3.12
rare earth concentrate

material containing rare earths, obtained by physical or chemical processes, and in the form of a solid

or solution

Note 1 to entry: The concentrate might be obtained from an ionic clay deposit by in-situ dissolution followed by

solution purification and precipitation of the rare earths or from an ore or concentrate by leaching followed by

solution purification and precipitation of the rare earths.
3.13
rare earth material

inputs to manufacturing processes containing rare earths used to produce products or more complex

or refined materials containing rare earths
3.14
rare earth-containing material
material in which the rare earth content is not the primary constituent
3.15
recycled rare earth material

recycled magnets or industrial waste or scrap from rare earth permanent magnet manufactures, other

rare earth end users, and rare earth end-of-life recyclers

Note 1 to entry: Includes end-of-life lamp phosphors, catalysts, or other waste streams containing significant

concentrations of rare earths.
3.16
rare earth oxide
compound that contains only rare earths and oxygen

Note 1 to entry: Generally, the formula for a rare earth oxide is RExOy where x is 2 and y is 3.

Note 2 to entry: Three of the rare earth oxides have different formulae, specifically CeO , Pr O , and Tb O .

2 6 11 4 7
3.17
radio frequency identification
RFID

use of a device (commonly referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product for the

purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves
3.18
separation plant

receives purified mixed rare earth concentrate either directly from hydrometallurgical plants or from

traders/brokers/blenders and separates the feed material into several purified rare earth products

that are purchased by downstream businesses for the production of metal, alloys, magnets, ceramics,

catalysts, etc.
3.19
ship-to-party
person or business that receives goods or materials
3.20
transit time

time taken between receipt of raw material or products and shipment of processed material or products

Note 1 to entry: The transit times for rare earths passing through beneficiation and hydrometallurgical plants

may be in the order of days. However, the time from when rare earths enter a blending/broker/logistics facility

or a separation plant to when the rare earths exit such a facility could be several months, for example,

— when warehousing of products with limited demand;
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— when rare earths enter a separation plant and emerge as a separated product in the product warehouse after

significant processing times.

Note 2 to entry: It is recognized that long processing hold times (transit times) complicate the determination of a

complete material mass balance over short time spans (e.g. less than 3 months).
3.21
traceability

ability to trace the origin, processing history, application, distribution, or place of materials or products

under consideration
3.22
traceability data

information that can build effective links between nodes in the rare earth supply chain

EXAMPLE company name, product name, batch number, the ex-factory date (the date on which an item left

the company’s factory), shipment mass, and shipment composition.
3.23
traceability system

a system or process that is designed to follow material through all phases of manufacturing and

distribution
3.24
trader/broker/blender

business, organization, or entity that receives rare earth-bearing material and passes it on, in whole

or in part, to a purchaser, either as-received or after blending with other rare earth-bearing materials

from other parties

Note 1 to entry: Traders/Brokers/Blenders do not change the nature of the rare earth products.

Note 2 to entry: Traders/Brokers/Blenders operate at various stages of the rare earth supply chain (e.g. as

intermediaries between hydrometallurgical plants producing purified mixed rare earth concentrate and rare

earth separation plants)
3.25
unique identifier

unique company name, government issued identifier, or alphanumeric code that identifies a node in the

rare earth supply chain
4 Planning of traceability system
4.1 General
To plan an effective traceability system, each node of the supply chain shall:

a) establish the boundaries and applicability of the traceability system to define its scope;

b) establish the objectives of the traceability system;

c) identify relevant regulatory and policy requirements to be considered by the traceability system

and require that supply chain counterparties show that they are meeting these requirements;

d) require the effective operation of the traceability system by:

1) implementing and maintaining the traceability system requirements in accordance with this

document;

2) assigning responsibility and authority for ensuring that the traceability system conforms to

the requirements of this document;
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3) allocating adequate and appropriate resources to carry out commitments, including

competences needed, training of personnel, and monitoring of the implementation of the

traceability system.
4.2 Documented Information
Organizations shall retain:
a) documented information required by this document;

b) documented information determined as being necessary to meet the objectives of this document

and make it effective in tracing the movement of rare earths materials through the supply chain.

4.3 Counterparties

Nodes shall determine their positions in the supply chain by identifying their supply chain

counterparties.

Nodes shall require that supply chain counterparties participating in the traceability system

conform to the:
a) objectives;
b) regulatory and policy requirements;
c) controls

of the traceability system and retain documented information as evidence of compliance.

4.4 Unique identifier

Each node should have a unique identifier (UI) within the rare earth supply chain if the node supplies or

receives rare earth materials to or from a counterparty.
UIs should be recognized by all nodes in the rare earth supply chain.

If a node operates at several different locations or has different types of businesses within the rare

earth supply chain, then each node location or
...