Report shows strong performance in sustainable mining practices: The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has released its 12th annual Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Progress Report. The 2016 report takes a detailed look at MAC members’ efforts to protect the environment and contribute positively to the communities where they operate.
The report includes 2015 performance results for 62 facilities from 22 mining companies, six of which had their results externally verified by a third party. The 2015 results show strong performance in several areas:
- 85% of facilities have a comprehensive management system for energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared to 75% in 2014
- 86% have a robust crisis management plan in place at both the facility and corporate levels, compared to 83% in 2014
- 95% of facilities engaged in effective and meaningful two-way dialogue with communities of interest, including local Aboriginal communities
- 100% of facilities implemented a safety and health management system.
“After a little more than a decade of TSM implementation, we have seen a doubling in the number of MAC member facilities implementing good practices across the range of TSM performance areas, demonstrating TSM’s effectiveness as a performance driver. Whereas in 2004, many Canadian mining operations’ community engagement practices were ad hoc, today the vast majority boast comprehensive systems of engagement, helping to establish strong, productive relationships with local and Indigenous communities,” stated Pierre Gratton, President and CEO, MAC. “As a result, TSM has emerged as a proven sustainability standard that is attracting global attention. Interest and uptake of TSM continues to grow both domestically as well as internationally with the national mining associations of Argentina and Finland both recently adopting TSM for their members.”
The 2016 TSM Progress Report recognizes the outstanding performance of six recipients of the TSM Leadership Award:
- Hudbay Minerals Inc, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co
- New Gold Inc., New Afton mine
- Suncor Energy Inc, Oil sands facility
- Teck Resources, Elkview operations
- Teck Resources, Highland Valley Copper
- Vale Newfoundland and Labrador, Voisey’s Bay mine
This year, Teck’s Elkview Operations not only achieved a TSM Leadership Award for a second time, but did so by achieving Level AAA performance in all of the program’s indicators and meeting all of the requirements of the Crisis Management Planning Protocol during external verification.
“For the first time in TSM’s history, we are celebrating a facility for reaching the highest possible level of performance across all of TSM’s environmental and social indicators. We congratulate Teck’s Elkview Operations and their staff for this significant achievement, and we acknowledge all TSM Leadership Award recipients for continuously raising the bar in environmental and social performance,” stated Gratton.
TSM’s requirements go well beyond regulatory obligations and are designed to improve industry’s operational performance in key environmental and social areas of mining. A TSM Leadership Award is granted only when a facility meets or exceeds a Level A ranking for all indicators under the Aboriginal and Community Outreach, Biodiversity Conservation Management, Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management, Safety and Health, and Tailings Management Protocols, and meets all requirements of the Crisis Management Planning Protocol. To be eligible for a TSM Leadership Award, a facility’s results must have been externally verified in that year. External verification is a requirement at least once every three years for MAC members. The 2016 winners were selected based on their 2015 TSM performance results.
To download the 2016 TSM Progress Report, visit: www.mining.ca/tsm-progress-report-2016.
