Panama’s national mining chamber, Cámara Minera de Panamá (CAMIPA), has announced its adoption of Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), a made-in-Canada corporate social responsibility performance system that improves environmental and social practices in the mining sector.
CAMIPA and its affiliated companies will adopt a set of indicators that will allow them to measure and publicly report on the most integral aspects of its mining industry, including those focused on environmental stewardship and effective community engagement.
“This is an important occasion, we are proud to become part of this initiative that has proven to be essential for the mining sector to enhance its contribution to the sustainable development of the regions where it operates,” said CAMIPA president Roberto Cuevas.
“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.”
CAMIPA joins 12 other mining associations around the world and is the sixth in Latin America together with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina, to adopt the TSM standard.
Panama’s mining chamber will tailor TSM’s performance areas to reflect the unique aspects of its mining industry and commits to implementation in the next five years.
TSM is a sustainability programme that supports mining companies in managing key environmental and social responsibilities. TSM was the first mining sustainability standard in the world to require site-level assessments and is mandatory for all companies that are members of implementing associations. Through TSM, eight critical aspects of social and environmental performance 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 Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton.
“The TSM standard will enhance sustainable performance for Panama’s mining sector and we are extremely pleased to welcome CAMIPA as our newest TSM partner.”
Performance in TSM is evaluated across a set of detailed environmental and social performance standards, including climate change, tailings management, water stewardship, Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management and preventing child and forced labour. TSM helps drive performance improvement where it counts — at the site level — and contributes to securing support for mining activities from the communities where it operates.
To ensure TSM reflects the expectations of civil society and industry stakeholders, it was designed and continues to be shaped by an independent, multi-interest advisory panel. As part of its implementation, CAMIPA will implement a similar advisory body to provide this valuable oversight function.
Source: Mining Weekly
