Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Program wins award from Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)

OTTAWA, March 5, 2012 /CNW/ -The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) is honored to have its Towards Sustainable Mining Program (TSM) recognized by the PDAC this evening at its annual awards ceremony.  MAC is receiving the Environmental & Social Responsibility Award for TSM's foundational role in helping improve the Canadian mining industry's environmental and social performance.

"This award honors an individual or organization demonstrating outstanding initiative, leadership and accomplishment in protecting and preserving the natural environment and/or in establishing good community relations during an exploration program or operation of a mine.  TSM has become a core component of the Canadian mining industry's performance improvement efforts and is a very deserving recipient of this award" said Ross Gallinger, Executive Director of the PDAC.

Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of MAC said: "TSM aims to improve the mining industry's overall performance by aligning its actions with the priorities and values of Canadians. TSM performance results over the past 5 years show dramatic improvements by MAC members in all performance areas - we are proud of what the program has helped industry achieve and are honored to have our program's contributions recognized by the PDAC." 

"TSM is an important contribution to the goal of improving performance in the mining sector" according to Alan Young, Executive Director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative. "It identifies important environmental and social challenges for the sector and requires MAC members to address their capacity to address them. For undertaking this initiative and committing to stakeholder input in its evolution, MAC deserves recognition as a leader."

TSM has also been recognized as one of the best industry association sustainability initiatives in the world, receiving the Globe Award for Environmental Excellence in 2005. Since that time, independent studies by Five Winds (2008) and the Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (2009) have both ranked TSM as 'best in class.'

TSM was created in 2004 to help mining companies evaluate the quality, comprehensiveness, and robustness of their management systems under several performance elements (tailings management; energy use and greenhouse gas emissions management; aboriginal and community outreach; crisis management planning; biodiversity conservation management; and safety and health). Participation in TSM is a condition of membership in MAC. It requires members to subscribe to a set of guiding principles that are backed by specific performance indicators against which member companies must report annually. These reported results are externally verified every three years. A community of interest advisory panel provides feedback to MAC on the implementation, reception, and use of TSM performance indicators.

The Mining Association of Canada is the national organization for the Canadian mining industry.  Its members account for most of Canada's production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical coal, mined oil sands and industrial minerals and are actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication. 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information, contact Paul Hebert at [phone] - [email protected]