AWARDS: MAC fetes Vale and Iamgold for sustainability excellence

VANCOUVER – This is the week of the CIM annual convention, and at the awards gala on May 7, Ottawa-based Mining Association of Canada honored both Vale’s Sudbury Operations in Ontario and Iamgold’s Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso for their sustainability initiatives. Established in 2014, the TSM Excellence Awards include the TSM Environmental Excellence Award and the TSM Community Engagement Excellence Award. To be eligible for the awards, mining companies must be actively implementing the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative. TSM is a performance-based program whereby mining operations evaluate, manage and publicly report on critical environmental and social responsibilities. The 2018 Environmental Excellence Award went to Vale’s Sudbury Operations for efforts to restore historically stressed lands and waterways back to their natural states. Of particular interest is Vale’s biodiversity program. The company has reclaimed 16 hectares with biosolids to encourage plant growth, revegetated its slag pile by planting milkweed seeds (the sole food source for monarch butterflies), and boosted local fish populations. Iamgold won the 2018 TSM Community Engagement Excellence Award for its scrap metal program that supports women entrepreneurs. The company sells its scrap metal at auction an then uses the revenues to fund local business ideas, such as the peanut butter production unit run by 11 local women. This is the first mechanized facility in the region for the manufacture and storage of peanut butter. "We congratulate Vale and Iamgold for their outstanding projects. Together, they showcase what best practice looks like in our sector," said Pierre Gratton, MAC president and CEO. Learn more about Towards Sustainable Mining at www.Mining.ca.