Responsible mineral sourcing, from the mine site to the boardroom.
HIVE is a Brussels-based non-profit advisory. We help downstream companies, governments and donors turn responsible-sourcing obligations into evidence that holds up, through field investigation, site audits, OECD-aligned due diligence, and the digital systems that make it last.
From policy to practice in responsible sourcing. HIVE works at both ends of the mineral supply chain: in the conflict-affected and high-risk areas where minerals are produced, and in the capitals and boardrooms where the rules are written, so that the two meet and mutually benefit.
Built by practitioners with two decades in responsible sourcing, natural-resource governance and the global mineral trade.
Fluent in the frameworks that govern the sector, and able to operationalise them, on the ground and in software.
Independent, evidence-led, and present where governance is thinnest.
Our work
Advisory grounded in field evidence and standards fluency, scoped to what each client actually has to defend.
Supply-chain due diligence
OECD-aligned due diligence that stands up to audit, regulator and customer.
Sourcing policy and management systems on the OECD five-step framework
Supplier mapping, CAHRA screening and red-flag risk assessment
Independent assessment where minerals actually change hands.
Mine-site and chain-of-custody assessments
Audit-readiness and gap analysis against LBMA, RMAP and WGC standards
Human-rights, security and red-flag risk assessments in high-risk areas
Investigation & research
Evidence from the source, not the spreadsheet.
Supply-chain mapping and trafficking-network analysis
Field research and risk intelligence in hard-to-access areas
Incident and allegation verification, and political-economy analysis
Natural-resource governance
Turning resource wealth into governance that lasts.
Policy, regulatory and reform advisory for governments and institutions
EITI implementation and transparency support
Multi-stakeholder dialogue and facilitation
Artisanal mining & livelihoods
Bringing artisanal and small-scale mining into legal, traceable, fairer supply chains.
ASM formalisation roadmaps and chain-of-custody set-up
Engagement with producers, cooperatives and local authorities
Livelihoods and beyond-compliance impact programmes
Capacity building & training
Skills that make responsible sourcing stick after we leave.
Producer, supplier and stakeholder training
Due-diligence and audit-readiness programmes
Institutional strengthening and technical assistance
Standards we work to
The OECD Due Diligence Guidance is the spine; the binding and voluntary regimes below build on it. We do not just reference these frameworks, we operationalise them, in management systems and in software.
OECD Due Diligence GuidanceAll minerals, the global baseline
EU Conflict Minerals Regulation (2017/821)Tin, tantalum, tungsten & gold
US Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1502Conflict minerals, US-listed issuers
EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence DirectiveHuman rights & environment, all sectors
EU Batteries RegulationCobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite
Refiners, manufacturers and brands face a widening stack of due-diligence rules and a supply base they cannot always see. HIVE builds the OECD-aligned systems that satisfy the EU Conflict Minerals and Batteries Regulations, LBMA and RMI, and the broader CSDDD, then backs them with independent site audits and investigation in the regions your minerals actually come from.
Regulatory and audit readiness
Site audits at origin
A defensible chain of evidence
Donors & institutions
Reform that holds at the source.
HIVE works where the responsible-sourcing challenge begins: strengthening resource governance, formalising artisanal mining, and building the local capacity that makes reform durable. As a Brussels-based non-profit fluent in the OECD and EU frameworks, we pair field investigation with hands-on capacity building and independent monitoring, turning programme funding into measurable change.
Governance & transparency
ASM formalisation
Independent monitoring & evaluation
Track record
Field-tested, and tech-enabled. HIVE grew out of a decade of field practice in Central Africa. With our digital infrastructure partner Datastake, we have turned OECD due diligence into working software, and run it where governance is thinnest.
Practising since 2017
DRC · Great Lakes · Sahel
OECD · LBMA · RMI aligned
EPRM-backed innovation
Our work began in 2017 with the CADD framework (Consolidated Autonomous Due Diligence), developed with backing from the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals so that actors at the origin of supply chains can run their own OECD-aligned due diligence.
That single framework is now a family of live systems. The principle behind all of them is "digital capacitation": local actors generate, own and selectively share structured, verifiable data, instead of waiting for an external audit once a year.
WAZIDue-diligence and supply intelligence for gold and ASM supply chains.
KOTAPortable KYC that lets banks finance artisanal mining operators.
NashirikiCivil-society monitoring, evaluation and accountability platform.
OrekaResponsible-minerals credits linking downstream demand to mine-site improvement.
Trusted by and partnered with the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals, Mercy Corps, Fairphone, the Alliance for Responsible Mining, The Impact Facility and Trust Merchant Bank. Our team has delivered for the UN, the World Bank, USAID, the ICGLR, the OECD and the European Commission.
Where we operate
Based in Brussels, present where it counts. HIVE carries on-the-ground experience and leverages a deep network across the globe.
Democratic Republic of Congo & the Great Lakes · Burkina Faso & the Sahel · Amazonia · and a network of local experts across 35+ countries.
HIVE is the sum of its international and local experts. Our contacts and partners span public-sector institutions, international organisations, the private sector, civil society, academia and research.
The team draws on an exceptional partnership with local experts, built over years in the field, providing information gathering, continuous monitoring of supply chains, and real-time identification of risk and impact.
The depth and breadth of this network is one of HIVE’s defining advantages. It ensures unparalleled attention to granular detail, and lets the team work remotely when needed, including in exceptionally high-risk areas.
Our team
The HIVE team combines decades of experience in responsible trade and sourcing, especially in emerging markets and conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs). Through our experts, HIVE offers a proven track record with concrete references in the field.
With its core seat in Brussels, HIVE relies on an extensive network of experts on every continent, including in high-risk areas, and individual team members based in Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Spain.
Hélène Helbig de Balzac
Hélène is a supply chain due diligence and mining trafficking networks specialist in conflict affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs).
She has more than 10 years of experience in international development with a focus on good governance, conflict prevention, and natural resources management in sub-Saharan Africa (DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali).
Hélène has collaborated with various firms and NGOs to develop innovative strategies for mineral supply chain due diligence; and has carried out several investigations on the illicit trade of gold in West and Central Africa.
She has established a wide network of contacts amongst private sector businesses, industry associations, international organisations and civil society actors committed towards responsible sourcing practices.
Hélène holds a master’s degree in sociology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a Msc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Yannick Weyns
Yannick has a decade’s worth of experience working with national Governments and the international community in Central Africa to understand and have a transformational impact on the links between mining, conflict and development in the region.
Since 2016, Yannick has been the advisor on natural resources at the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) in the DR Congo.
Prior to his position at MONUSCO, he worked for the International Peace Information Service, mapping conflict dynamics and mining sites in the DR Congo, Sudan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic for clients such as the World Bank and USAID.
Yannick also has a keen understanding of human rights issues, having worked as a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations in Kinshasa.
Yannick holds MAs in Law, Social and Cultural Anthropology (University of Leuven) and International Relations and Diplomacy (University of Antwerp).
Pretends knowing something about cosmology and molecular biology too.
Famke Schaap
Famke specializes in responsible business and global trade. She has spent the past 15 years working with corporate and government clients, in the EU and in emerging markets. Her core expertise is in translating policy requirements into business priorities and processes. Her profile blends expertise in both trade and sustainability.
Famke is a former Director with Deloitte Belgium, where she served corporate and European Commission clients on global trade and risk sustainability. As an independent expert, she conducts assignments as part of trade related technical assistance programs (including DFID, EC, UNDP, WTO, UN/ITC, Netherlands Government and various other consulting firms). Prior to working with HIVE, Famke also served as EU/WTO Trade Diplomat for Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as UN/WTO agency ITC in the role of Business and Trade Policy Adviser.
Famke holds an MA in International Relations (Sussex University), and a certificate in Business Sustainability Management (Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership).
Being Brussels-based, Famke loves jazz concerts, playing tennis and occasionally leaving for mountain hiking and cross-country skiing!
Benjamin Clair
Benjamin is an expert in mining and the global mineral trade, with experience in banking and commodity trading and specific expertise in the fields of Artisanal & Small-scale Mining (ASM) and supply chain due diligence. Benjamin is a former consultant on minerals sourcing with RCS global and brings over 15 years of experience working in high-risk areas.
He pioneered HIVE’s digital approach to due diligence and leads its technology work: building, with Datastake, the field-grade software that lets actors at the origin of supply chains generate, own and share their own structured data, the principle of digital capacitation.
Since 2012 he has worked in resource-rich countries, particularly in Central Africa, implementing large projects and building a swarm of local information relays.
Benjamin holds an MA in International Trade & Finance, Paris IX – Dauphine University.
Decent to hang out with when in a good mood.
1 / 4 — Hélène Helbig de Balzac
Contact
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