Cámara Minera de México (CAMIMEX), Mexico’s national mining chamber, 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.

The official TSM signing, which took place at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention, the world’s largest mining conference, will see CAMIMEX and its affiliated companies work to 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.

“Signing this collaboration with the Mining Association of Canada to share the TSM standard reflects the commitment of the mining sector affiliated with CAMIMEX to continue implementing the best international standards in environmental and social performance, as well as transparency and promoting communication channels with all stakeholders,” said Jaime Gutiérrez, President of CAMIMEX.

CAMIMEX joins 11 other mining associations around the world, the fifth in Latin America together with Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Argentina, in adopting the TSM standard. Mexico’s mining chamber will tailor TSM’s performance areas to reflect the unique aspects of its mining industry.

TSM is a globally recognized sustainability program 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. Through TSM, eight critical aspects of social and environmental performance are evaluated, independently validated, and publicly reported against 30 distinct performance indicators.

“The world needs minerals and metals for the technologies we depend on and it is integral that globally recognized standards like TSM be in place to ensure that the process of mining is being managed responsibly, from start to finish,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, TSM’s founding member. “Today, CAMIMEX, whose members are significant employers and contributors to the economy, is committing to a greater emphasis on sustainable practices and we are very proud to welcome them 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, CAMIMEX will implement a similar advisory body to provide this valuable oversight function.