Engineers Without Borders releases human rights guidance for mining procurement

Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWBC) in collaboration with the German development agency, GIZ, released guidelines last week that will improve human rights practice during the procurement of goods and services by the mining sector. The guide was sponsored by EWBC’s Mining Shared Value (MSV) program.

The guidance document supports miners who want to comply with increasing regulations on supply chain due diligence and put in place more comprehensive practices to ensure they do not contribute to forced and child labour.

“With new due diligence laws in Canada and EU, and the confusing array of sustainability standards used across the mining sector, this module-based guidance will show companies the steps they need to take to ensure they meet the needs of all legal and standard requirements, and achieve maximum ESG scores,” said MSV managing director Jeff Geipel.

The procurement guidance is a spinoff from the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM) which is another publicly available framework to increase transparency in mining sector procurement and create more business opportunities for host country and community suppliers.  

Orla Mining (TSX: OLA) recently adopted the LPRM and created a partnership with EWBC, which will advise the company on due diligence, using the guidance as part of the work.

Orla director of sustainability Cornelio Delgado pointed to the importance of this initiative.

“Enhancing our operations' net-positive impact through increased local procurement is a core aspect of our business model and Orla’s sustainability strategy,” he said. “We wholeheartedly welcome the new guidance for disclosure on human rights, as it will enable our site teams to achieve our targets responsibly, transparently, and ethically."

The document contains every piece of information that laws and standards require for the components of due diligence during procurement, and guides user companies to take actions to be in full compliance. Coming soon, a spreadsheet versions of the reporting tables that companies can use.

The guidance document, and  the LPRM, are publicly available on the EWBC website at www.MiningSharedValue.org/due-diligence.