New Gold and Rio Tinto receive sustainable mining excellence awards

The Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) community of interest advisory panel has selected New Gold (TSE:NGD) and Rio Tinto (NSYE: RIO) as winners of the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Excellence Awards.  

New Gold’s New Afton mine and Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine particularly, were recognized at the CIM Awards Gala in Montreal this week for their sustainability, focus on community engagement and environmental stewardship. 

The aim of the TSM award is to drive performance improvement across a range of social and environmental issues at the mine site level. A national independent community of interest advisory panel oversees the program, including representatives from Indigenous communities, environmental organizations, labour, finance, local mining communities, social, and faith-based organizations and academia. 

TSM performance is evaluated across a set of detailed environmental and social performance standards, including tailings management, climate change, water stewardship, Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management ,and preventing child and forced labour. As a constantly evolving program new TSM protocols are introduced to meet society’s expectations on what constitutes good practice and a new standard sfocused on equity, diversity and inclusion is expected to be published later this year. 

“We are proud that TSM, a made-in-Canada standard, is now in the process of being implemented by 14 mining associations around the world, making it the most widespread ESG program of its kind,” said Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of MAC. “We applaud the work being done by this year’s Excellence Award winners as it showcases the positive results that can be achieved when environmental stewardship and community engagement are prioritized.” 

To learn more, visit www.Mining.ca.