Archive | Corporate Social Responsibility

NEWS RELEASE: IGF Releases Guidance for Governments on Local Content Policies to Strengthen Economies

July 18, 2018 in Corporate Social Responsibility

View Doc Here: https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/igf-guidance-for-governments-local-content.pdf

Ottawa, Canada – A new toolkit developed by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) aims to help resource-rich countries find more sustainable and inclusive economic solutions, fostering stronger linkages between mineral resources and the rest of the economy.

The IGF Guidance for Governments focuses on local content policies and strategies created by governments requiring mining companies to utilize local goods and services when operating in another country. It also highlights how countries can move away from commodity dependency and diversify their economic base. Local content policies are being utilized more often by governments, particularly as they review or revise their mining and investment codes and contracts.

“An estimated 90 per cent of resource-rich countries employ some sort of local content policy. But in countries where there are only a few other strong sectors, the success of these policies is critical,” said Greg Radford, Director of the IGF. “However, it remains unclear which local content policies work best, produce results and minimize unintended consequences. Our Guidance for Governments takes these on-the-ground realities into account.” Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: VALE’S SUDBURY OPERATIONS HONOURED WITH NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

May 9, 2018 in Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Mining, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

SUDBURY, May 8, 2018 – Vale’s Sudbury Biodiversity Program received the national Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Environmental Excellence Award from the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) at an awards gala during the 2018 CIM Convention in Vancouver on May 7th.

“We are proud to be acknowledged for Vale’s biodiversity program in Sudbury,” said Lisa Lanteigne, Environment Manager for Vale’s Ontario Operations. “The program has been successful because of a sustained commitment to community collaboration and an innovative approach to environmental stewardship. The program exemplifies one of our core company values — Prize Our Planet.”

Vale’s biodiversity work in Sudbury focuses on regreening and reclamation efforts; transforming historically stressed lands and waterways back to their natural states after more than a century of mining activities. To improve biodiversity within the community, Vale undertakes a number of activities, including: Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: MAC fetes Vale and IAMGOLD with 2018 TSM Excellence Awards

May 8, 2018 in Canada Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

Projects raise the bar in environmental protection and community engagement

OTTAWA, May 8, 2018 /CNW/ – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has awarded Vale’s Sudbury Operations in Ontario and IAMGOLD’s Essakane Gold Mine in Burkina Faso with TSM Excellence Awards for their innovative sustainability projects. The companies were recognized with the awards yesterday at the CIM Awards Gala in Vancouver.

“We congratulate Vale and IAMGOLD for their outstanding projects. Together, they showcase what best practice looks like in our sector, whether it be spurring local economic development and entrepreneurship in communities where they operate or adopting innovative methods to restore mining areas back to nature,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO, MAC.

“These projects are making meaningful change in communities by restoring mined areas back to nature, and spurring local economic development and entrepreneurship. We can all learn from these projects and bring the knowledge to our own communities.” added David Walkem, Chief of the Cook’s Ferry Band, and Member of MAC’s COI Panel and TSM Excellence Awards Selection Committee. Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: Anaconda Mining receives Industry Excellence Award for Environmental Stewardship

April 3, 2018 in Corporate Social Responsibility, Newfoundland and Labrador Mining

TORONTO, March 29, 2018 /CNW/ – Anaconda Mining Inc. (“Anaconda” or the “Company”) – (TSX: ANX) is pleased to announce it has been recognized with the Natural Resources Magazine’s Industry Excellence Award for Environmental Stewardship.

Natural Resources Magazine’s Industry Excellence Awards recognizes companies in Atlantic Canada’s natural resources sectors that are striving for and achieving greatness in resource development, health and safety, innovation, environmental stewardship and championing communities.

“Anaconda Mining strives to be an environmental leader in the mining sector with a focus on implementing proven and innovative green initiatives that contribute to the sustainability of the environment. Continue Reading →

Accent: Vale Enhancing Sudbury’s biodiversity – by Keith Dempsey (Sudbury Star – March 24, 2018)

March 26, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Corporate Social Responsibility, Mining Environmental, Water Shortage and Land Reclamation/Revegetation Issues, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Thousands of fingerlings, about an inch in size, entered two 4,500-litre rearing-like tanks at Vale’s Copper Cliff Greenhouse almost a year ago.

It’s where they were joyfully raised for 10 months by Vale staff, fed pelletized food, carefully having the water parameters in their tank monitored to make sure the water is being filtered.

“We want to make sure they’re happy in there,” said Quentin Smith, environmental engineer with Vale. Those fingerlings have now matured into healthy brook trout. Some of them have grown to 10-inches long. They’re ready for release into their natural environment. Continue Reading →

PDAC 2018 Environmental & Social Responsibility Award: Golden Star Resources

March 24, 2018 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility, PDAC Award Banquet Inductees

PDAC 2018 – Environmental & Social Responsibility Award – Golden Star Resources from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

Enviro. & Social Responsibility Award - Golden Star.jpg

Sam Coetzer, President & CEO of Golden Star Resources (left) and Donald Lindsay, President & CEO of Teck Resources Limited

This award honours 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.

Golden Star Resources – For exceptional community relations, commitment to sustainable development, and support for employees and local businesses at its two producing gold mines in Ghana

Golden Star has reached beyond expectations of corporate environmental and social initiatives at its operations on the Ashanti gold belt in Ghana. From protecting and preserving the environment, to encouraging local businesses to supply goods and services to its gold mines, Golden Star is recognized as a global leader in corporate responsibility. Continue Reading →

ICMM’s Butler: Mining an ‘agent of change when it comes to alleviating poverty’ – by Matthew Keevil (Northern Miner – December 11, 2018)

January 16, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Corporate Social Responsibility

Northern Miner

VANCOUVER — On Dec. 6, The Northern Miner sat down for an interview with Tom Butler, CEO of the U.K.-based International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), to discuss climate change politics and other prominent themes for miners on the international stage in 2018.

Butler became CEO of ICMM in July 2015. Before that, he spent 18 years with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation in its infrastructure and natural resource teams, with an emphasis on mining and power projects in Africa.

The Northern Miner: How is the mining industry is perceived globally today?

Tom Butler: There’s a trust gap, and the question is: How do we close it?

The mining industry isn’t doing well in many countries. You see that in the loss of social license where governments feel they have political room to take actions because the industry doesn’t have the support of local populations. Continue Reading →

Remembering the ‘magical’ Falcona Camp: former company-run camp closing after 80 years – by Eric White (CBC News Sudbury – December 11, 2017)

December 11, 2017 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Corporate Social Responsibility, Glencore

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Name of camp switched to Camp Falcona when taken over by YMCA in 1990s

Lana Sissons has spent most of her summers on the shores of Nelson Lake, in the northern reaches of what is today Greater Sudbury.

When she was five years old back in 1948, she first went to Falcona Camp, which was built in 1937 for the children of the men who worked in the Falconbridge nickel mines.

For Sissons, it meant spending the summer with all of her friends, who also lived in the company town of Falconbridge. Among them was her future husband Bob, who grew up across the street. Continue Reading →

Displaced by mining, Peru villagers spurn shiny new town – by Mitra Taj (Reuters U.S. – December 7, 2017)

December 7, 2017 in Copper, Corporate Social Responsibility, International Media Resource Articles, Latin America Mining

https://www.reuters.com/

NUEVA FUERABAMBA, Peru (Reuters) – This remote town in Peru’s southern Andes was supposed to serve as a model for how companies can help communities uprooted by mining.

Named Nueva Fuerabamba, it was built to house around 1,600 people who gave up their village and farmland to make room for a massive, open-pit copper mine. The new hamlet boasts paved streets and tidy houses with electricity and indoor plumbing, once luxuries to the indigenous Quechua-speaking people who now call this place home.

The mine’s operator, MMG Ltd (1208.HK), the Melbourne-based unit of state-owned China Minmetals Corp CHMIN.UL, threw in jobs and enough cash so that some villagers no longer work. Continue Reading →

AWARDS: Lundin Gold Recognized by UN Compact for Its Sustainable Development Best Practices (Canadian Mining Journal – November 22, 2017)

November 23, 2017 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Corporate Social Responsibility

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

VANCOUVER – Lundin Gold is pleased to announce that it has been recognized by the United Nations Global Compact Networks of Colombia and Ecuador at the Best Practice Awards for Sustainable Development for its work undertaken jointly with the Lundin Foundation and Catering Las Peñas (“CLP”), the supplier of food preparation, cleaning and laundry services to the Company’s Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador.

Global Compact is a United Nations’ initiative through which companies and organizations voluntarily undertake to align their strategies with ten universal principles of corporate social responsibility.

Following the Global Compact’s evaluation process, Lundin Gold was recognized for its work with CLP, which relates to Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth. This award will allow the Company to be evaluated in the 2018 Regional SDG Awards with companies from other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Continue Reading →

Barrick Gold hopes to strike it rich with Fraser Canyon ski resort – by Susan Lazaruk (The Province – October 22, 2017)

October 23, 2017 in Barrick Gold Corporation, British Columbia Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Corporate Social Responsibility

http://theprovince.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is floating the idea of turning an old nickel mine near Hope into a year-round recreational resort

Is there gold in the hills above Hope? Barrick Gold Corp. is floating the idea of turning an old nickel mine in the area into a year-round recreational playground called the Giant Nickel All Season Resort. It would include a ski hill and gondola and restaurants that grow their own vegetables.

The 10-run ski hill in terms of vertical drop would fall between Whistler Blackcomb and Sun Peaks, said Dennis Adamson, electoral director of Electoral Area B of the Fraser Valley Regional District, and the project’s No. 1 booster.

“I’ve been pushing this for years,” said Adamson, who’s the elected official of the area, which includes communities like Yale, Spuzzum, Dogwood Valley, Othello and Ruby Creek, total population 721. Continue Reading →

Peter Munk donates $100 million to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre – by Julien Gignac (Toronto Star – September 20, 2017)

September 20, 2017 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gold and Silver

Peter Munk’s impassioned and gracious speech begins at the 33 minute mark.

https://www.thestar.com/

Munk extolled Canadian graciousness he experienced when he emigrated here in the late 1940s. “You opened the door. You gave us everything,” he said, referring to Canada as “paradise.”

Peter Munk said his donation to a Toronto heart hospital is a “debt to repay” to Canada for taking in his family after the Second World War. On Tuesday, $100 million was contributed to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, said to be the largest contribution to a Canadian hospital in history.

In a long, impassioned speech, Munk, founder and former chairman of Barrick Gold Corporation, extolled Canadian graciousness he experienced when he emigrated here in the late 1940s.

“When you thank me for what I’ve done for Toronto, and you thank me for what I can do for this community, it doesn’t begin to express my immense gratitude for what this country has done for me and my family,” said Munk, who was born in Hungary. “You opened the door. You gave us everything,” he added, referring to Canada as “paradise.” Continue Reading →

Transformative [$100 million] Gift from The Munk Charitable Foundation Propels the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre into the Future, Cementing its Role as a Global Leader in Cardiovascular Care

September 19, 2017 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility

(seated) Melanie and Peter Munk

Toronto, ON (September 19, 2017) – University Health Network (UHN) announced today that The Peter and Melanie Munk Charitable Foundation is increasing its support to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) with a transformative gift of $100 million. This gift, which will bring the Munks’ support of UHN and the PMCC to more than $175 million since 1993, will primarily be used to develop a data-driven digital cardiovascular health platform that reduces costs, advances medical research, and improves the outcomes of patients with cardiac and vascular disease.

“This historic gift will enable the PMCC to continue to lead the future of cardiovascular care globally, and through our partnership with the Vector Institute will further advance Toronto’s and Canada’s leadership in the field of artificial intelligence,” said Dr. Peter Pisters, President and CEO of UHN, home to the PMCC. “This gift represents the largest commitment to a Canadian hospital in our country’s 150-year history and builds on Peter and Melanie’s extraordinary legacy of philanthropy.”

“Melanie and I are committed to the mission of the PMCC, which is to be the world’s leader in cardiac and vascular care,” said Peter Munk. “Since it opened, the PMCC has changed the way cardiovascular patients are treated in the Province of Ontario, across Canada, and around the world. Now, using the most innovative digital technologies, the PMCC will establish a new standard of care for patients and, ultimately, lead to a significant reduction in cardiac and vascular fatalities.” Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: Schulich names new Graduate Study & Research Building in honour of entrepreneurs Rob and Cheryl McEwen

September 18, 2017 in Canada Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gold and Silver

(L to R) Rob McEwen (MBA ’78), Judy Schulich, York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton and Dean Dezsö J. Horváth.

Rob and Cheryl McEwen’s $8-million donation to the Leading Change campaign one of largest gifts received by the Schulich School of Business

TORONTO – Monday, September 18, 2017 – The Schulich School of Business at York University is proud to announce that its new Graduate Study & Research Building will be named in honour of Rob and Cheryl McEwen, long-time supporters of the School who are known for their leadership, entrepreneurialism and philanthropy.

The naming of the Rob and Cheryl McEwen Graduate Study & Research Building, which will open in late spring 2018, was celebrated yesterday during an unveiling ceremony at the new building’s construction site next to the School’s Keele Street campus.

Following the milestone announcement, the McEwens joined York University President & Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton, Schulich Dean Dezsö J. Horváth and other dignitaries and guests for a celebratory reception that featured an Innovation and Discovery Gallery showcasing the School’s Centres of Excellence and Research Office. Continue Reading →

Mining can be green and “sustainable” – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 15, 2017)

August 16, 2017 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Miners, First Nations feed fodder to government policy wonks

Government needs to help encourage greater Indigenous participation in the mining sector if it wants to make progress on national reconciliation and to “unlock billions of economic activity” across the country. The Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) submitted an Aug; 14 policy paper at the Energy and Mines Ministers conference in Saint Andrews, N.B.

CMIF is a coalition of mining interests, led by the Mining Association of Canada and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, who believe Canada can be a top supplier of sustainably-sourced minerals and metals operating within a low-carbon regime.

Since the mining industry is the largest private sector employer of Indigenous people, CMIF said government needs to invest in Indigenous health, education, skills training, and make progress on resource revenue sharing. CMIF suggests government use industry “as a platform” toward national reconciliation. Continue Reading →