Background to the UNFC Podcast

At Satarla, we believe that effective responsible management of natural resources is essential for a sustainable future. Following our work as Impact Creation Lead in the VECTOR Project we aimed to further build upon both our experience with UNFC that we gained during the project, while also communicating the diverse perspectives surrounding raw materials.

With the EU passing the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) in 2023, UNFC gained increased prominence as framework. The CRMA mandates the use of UNFC by Member States’ geosurveys for exploration, monitoring, and waste. However, it is the mandated use of UNFC within the CRMA’s Strategic Projects that has generated the most interest in UNFC.

CRMA Strategic Projects:

• A project must meaningfully contribute to the security of the EU’s supply of strategic raw materials
• Can be in a Member State or a Third Country outside the EU.
• Selected strategic projects are intended to benefit from support for access to finance and shorter permitting timeframes.
• Projects can be extraction, processing, recycling, and substitution raw material projects.
• Require a UNFC classification supported by relevant evidence to understand the project’s viability not only economically, but also in terms of sustainability; as well as its technical feasibility and confidence in production estimates.

Why listen to the UNFC podcast?

This podcast series will share the insights and experience of those who have been involved in the many different aspects of UNFC. We hope this podcast will be a platform to foster a wider, clearer understanding of UNFC, but also highlight the realities and challenges of working with it as a framework. Whether you work in industry, academia, policy, or elsewhere we hope the topics and conversations we have on the UNFC Podcast will deepen your knowledge of UNFC, as well as the interlinked systems and experts involved with it.

What is UNFC?

Developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) is a global principle-based tool for the classification, management, and reporting of minerals, petroleum, renewable energy, anthropogenic resources, as well as geological storage and groundwater resources.

Its classification system is built on three categories:

• E: Environmental-Socio-Economic Viability – determined by relevant legal, regulatory, social, environmental and contractual conditions, and market prices.
• F: Technical Feasibility – based on the maturity of technology, studies, and commitments involved with its development.
• G: Degree of Confidence – in the estimate of the quantities of products from the project based on geological knowledge.

To find out more download our factsheet on UNFC (PDF, 293 kB), or discover our Introduction to Mining course or other courses on various topics at the Satarla Knowledge Hub.