Panama’s national mining chamber announced the adoption of a Canadian corporate social responsibility performance system geared towards improving environmental and social practices in the mining sector on Friday.
Cámara Minera de Panamá (CAMIPA) and affiliated companies will adopt the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, a globally recognized sustainability program that supports mining companies in managing environmental and social responsibilities.
Implementation includes adopting indicators enabling the chamber to measure and publicly report on the practices of the mining industry. Consequently, these are in the areas of environmental stewardship and community engagement.
“In order to improve this contribution to sustainable development, the mining sector must assume and promote the best practices and standards in its relationship with the country and territories, communities, the environment, the productive system and the State,” said Roberto Cuevas, President of CAMIPA.
Twelve other mining associations around the world have adopted the TSM standard. CAMIPA is the sixth mining association in Latin America alongside Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina, to adopt the standard. Panama will adapt TSM’s areas to its own mining industry and commit to implementation within the next five years.
TSM is a sustainability program supporting mining companies in managing their environmental and social responsibilities. It was also the first mining sustainability standard to require site-level assessments. It’s also mandatory for all member companies of implementing associations.
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Towards Sustainable Mining focuses on eight performance aspects
The initiative focuses on eight aspects of social and environmental performance. These include climate change, tailings management, water stewardship, Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management and preventing child and forced labour. These aspects are evaluated, independently validated and publicly reported against 30 distinct performance indicators.
“The mining industry’s role in providing the minerals and metals essential to the technologies we use every day cannot be overstated and it is critical that these materials be responsibly sourced, with environmental stewardship and community engagement at the forefront,” said Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, TSM’s founding member.
An independent multi-interest advisory panel designed TSM to ensure that it meets the expectations of civil society and stakeholders. Additionally, as part of its implementation, CAMIPA will establish a comparable advisory body to provide an oversight function.
Accordingly, a sample list of mining companies operating in Panama include Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV), First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM), Orla Mining (TSX: OLA), Antler Gold (TSXV: ANTL) and A.I.S Resources (TSXV: AIS).
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