The Coalition for Responsible Sand and Silicates

The challenge

Sand and silicates are the most extracted solid materials on Earth, essential to everything from housing and roads to electronics and solar panels. These materials, including aggregates, clays, industrial sands, natural stones and high-purity quartz, are foundational yet often treated as low-risk. Despite their central role in the global economy, they remain largely absent from the responsible sourcing frameworks that govern other mineral flows.

The evidence base is clear. The invisibility of sand comes at a cost.

Sand and silicate supply chains are implicated in a range of human rights, environmental and systemic risks, many of which are already recognised in international due diligence frameworks, including:

• OECD Annex II risks such as forced labour, tax evasion, bribery and mislabelling of origin
• OECD Environmental Handbook risks such as erosion, biodiversity loss, pollution and water stress
• Systemic impacts including displacement, Indigenous rights violations and unsafe working conditions

As volume, dependence and scrutiny increase, so does the urgency to develop clear guidance, best practices and coordinated approaches to responsible sourcing of these materials.

Responsible business conduct in sand and silicate supply chains is no longer optional. It is overdue. This was the case for a new organisation to exist.

The response

The North Star

Building a future where sand and silicate resources are sourced, used and produced responsibly.

What UQ did about it

Recognising that the challenge required more than research, UQ’s Global Centre for Mineral Security incubated a new voluntary sustainability initiative from the ground up.

The result is the Coalition for Responsible Sand and Silicates, a next-generation voluntary sustainability initiative co-developed by UQ with stakeholders as a strategic response to a deeply fragmented governance landscape.

Why a coalition?

Responsible sand and silicates is a grand challenge: vast in scale, complex in impact, and deeply embedded in social, economic and ecological systems, yet still largely ungoverned and misaligned with market norms.

Following extensive dialogue with industry actors, civil society and international organisations from 2022 to the present, UQ identified the need for a new kind of platform: one that could consolidate fragmented efforts, align incentives and support practical action across diverse supply chains. UQ then built it, tested it with partners, and supported its launch as an independent entity.

Continuing research partnership with UQ

The University of Queensland’s Global Centre for Mineral Security remains a preferred research partner to the Coalition. The GCMS brings distinctive expertise in two areas that are central to the Coalition’s future work.

Mineral security and sand and silicates

 The GCMS defines mineral security as existing when all people have sufficient and affordable access to the minerals and mineral goods necessary for human development including shelter, communication, energy, mobility and sustenance. This is a human-centred framing of mineral security, and sand and silicates sit at the heart of this agenda. They are among the most essential materials for meeting basic human needs, particularly in the built environment and energy systems, yet they are routinely excluded from mineral security conversations.

Responsible aggregates, ASM and miner-led action

The GCMS has deep expertise in artisanal and small-scale mining, responsible aggregates supply and sourcing, and miner-led approaches to recognition and demonstration of responsible production. This work is directly relevant to the Coalition’s agenda, particularly as it develops guidance for sand and silicate supply chains where informal and artisanal production plays a significant role.