The CRMA chain of exploration, extraction, processing, and recycling activities and processes for raw materials.
Raw materials value chain is the CRMA’s upstream-to-recycling chain for raw materials. It is narrower than the full product value chain because it focuses on material discovery, extraction, transformation, and recycling rather than every product-design, manufacturing, distribution, use, or end-of-life activity. For battery and passport work, it helps locate where material evidence originates before it becomes product-level evidence.
This page is anchored in CRMA Article 2, point 2. The term is not the same as the full product value chain or a general supply chain. Its CRMA scope is exploration, extraction, processing and recycling of raw materials.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials
all activities and processes involved in the exploration, extraction, processing and recycling of raw materials
CRMA Article 2 source-specific definition layer.
Reference: Article 2, point 2
Companies can use this term to decide where a material-evidence workflow needs source, supplier, facility, processing, or recycling information. It is especially useful when linking raw-material origin and transformation records to battery-material, recycled-content, and due-diligence evidence.
The implementation question is where material evidence enters the product record. Minespider treats raw materials value chain as the CRMA material-stage map: exploration, extraction, processing, and recycling each create different evidence needs, and those records can later connect to supply-chain, passport, and footprint data.