TSM

Towards Sustainable Mining, or TSM, an initiative of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), is built on the premise that mining can contribute to the sustainability of our communities in a way that minimizes the effect of mining on the environment.

In the past decade, mining has transformed itself into a high-tech industry, and this transformation is key to our pursuit of sustainability.

The MAC recently released a study which underscores the connection between resource development and the growth of the knowledge-based economy. Prepared by Ottawa-based Global Economics and titled Mining Innovation: An Overview of Canada’s Dynamic, Technologically Advanced Mining Industry, it shows that the primary metals sector had the highest overall ranking for the use of advanced technologies between 1989 and 1998. Indeed, five of the top research and development companies in Canada were from the mining sector.

Successful companies are those that embrace new technologies, and our sector has always done so. Adopting or developing the latest technologies to improve productivity is how we remain competitive; it is also how we improve our environmental performance and the health and safety of our operations.

TSM may be the most ambitious, collaborative effort we have undertaken as an industry. It could be described as an umbrella — an overarching ethic that governs all of our relationships, including those with our employees, communities, Aboriginal peoples, environmental groups, shareholders and others. It is an ethic that seeks to create a more open, inclusive and transparent culture in our industry. (In many ways, TSM builds on the Whitehorse Mining Initiative (WMI), a landmark 1994 agreement on sustainability involving the mining industry, governments, aboriginal peoples, labour unions and environmental groups.)

The industry can lay claim to a host of significant accomplishments in the environmental sphere, as the following review illustrates:

– The Mine Environmental Neutral Drainage program and its subsequent initiatives, MEND 2000 and MEND3, have contributed enormously to the industry’s understanding acid drainage and how to prevent it.

– The Metals in the Environment network, involving Canadian universities, government departments and industry, has influenced science-based policies aimed at protecting the environment and human health.

– To address climate change, the industry has worked with groups such as the Pembina Institute in Edmonton to develop a comprehensive guide on energy management.

– The industry produced a guide to the management of tailings facilities and is now working on a complementary operations manual.

The implementation of TSM began this past year. In 2000, the TSM Task Force sought to identify the opportunities for alignment between the industry and its various communities. A comprehensive assessment was conducted, involving company heads, environmental managers and mine managers, and a similar process involved citizens of mining communities, government officials, environmentalists, aboriginal peoples and investors.

As a result, a set of guiding principles was agreed upon. These are encapsulated in a statement that reads: “We believe our opportunities to contribute to and thrive in the economies in which we operate must be earned through a demonstrated commitment to sustainable development. . . . Our actions must reflect a broad spectrum of values that we share with our employees and communities of interest, including honesty, transparency and integrity.”

In addition, the MAC has approved a guide to crisis communications management, to ensure that companies can respond effectively to the concerns of communities when problems arise. Our goal is for all members to have a corporate crisis communications plan in place by June 2003.

Today’s society is changing: democracy is taking a new turn with the rise of a more global, forward-looking society. We see multiple citizens’ groups concerned with social and environmental issues, acting as watchdogs, monitoring corporate activities and demanding accountability — and the mining industry is one of the most closely scrutinized. So our industry has to learn to communicate with a broader range of stakeholders. We have to work more closely with those who have an interest in what we do, and we can only do this by working together.

— The preceding is from a speech presented to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. The author is chief executive officer of Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting.