Innovative Collaboration to Enhance Standards

The Mineral Association of Canada (MAC) and Copper Mark have recently joined forces in a groundbreaking partnership designed to augment transparency and credibility in the mining industry. Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of MAC, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, emphasizing the valuable exchange that has taken place between the two entities in the past few years. They have worked hand in hand to refine protocols, processes, and policies, propelling this partnership to new heights.

Stricter Requirements for TSM Members

As a result of this collaboration, members of the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) program will experience significant changes. Operating facilities seeking verification will now undergo mandatory site visits, and there will be minimum standards set for employee interviews. Copper Mark will conduct reviews of members’ assurance plans for thoroughness, including a media scan. Verifiers will perform gap assessments for any subpar performance below TSM Level A, with resulting action plans made public to address those deficiencies.

Improved Oversight and Public Disclosure

Copper Mark participants will witness enhanced oversight through an independent TSM oversight process, overseen by Copper Mark. Staff members from Copper Mark will also participate as observers on MAC’s national Community-of-Interest panel, contributing to the post-verification review process. Verification results will be made public on both the TSM and Copper Mark websites.

Future Collaborative Efforts

Beyond the current pilot initiative, MAC and Copper Mark are exploring avenues to enrich their stakeholder networks and governance bodies. The goal is to evaluate the outcomes of the pilot program this year and incorporate learnings into deeper collaboration and integration between Copper Mark and TSM in the year 2025 and onwards. There is also talk of expanding this collaboration to involve other TSM partners worldwide.