Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG) Practices
Investments that transcend. We are building drinking water infrastructure to remedy shortages in Cananea and Nacozari communities in Sonora, Mexico; approximately 75 thousand residents will benefit from these initiatives. This effort is aligned with our policies and commitments for sustainable development and is part of the US$77 million that we have invested in Mexico and Peru over the last 5 years.
Innovation in the use and efficiency of water. We are currently recovering about 6 thousand cubic meters of water per day through the new tailings filtering plant in Quebrada Honda, Peru, which is equivalent to 0.6 m3 of water per ton of tailings. With a design capacity of 10,000 tons/day and an investment to date of $27 million, this dam filter is the largest tailings processing unit of its kind in the market.
Focus on prevention and risk management. In September 2023, our Buenavista del Cobre unit in Sonora received “Safe and Healthy Work Environments” (“ELSSA”) recognition from the Mexican government after successfully passing an audit conducted by the Mexican Social Security Institute. All of our other Mexican units also hold this recognition, which is awarded to companies that implement effective strategies and preventive actions for occupational health and safety.
We continue to make progress with our Critical Risk Registry and the performance levels of the controls in place to prevent or mitigate undesirable events have improved. To achieve this, we have involved the heads of each operating unit in the process to establish and continuously monitor controls. All results are reported to managing executives on a monthly basis to facilitate supervision and subsequent monitoring by the Board of Directors.
Innovation in climate change mitigation. In September 2023, Southern Perú received the 2023 National Mining Award in the Mining Economy category within the framework of PERUMIN 36 Mining Convention held in Arequipa, Peru. The winning study “Integration scenarios of renewable electricity generation systems in the mining sector of Peru by 2050”, prepared by Eng. Rolando Jesus Claros, from the Power System area, proposes the use of clean and renewable energy sources as part of the global energy transition process. Southern Copper aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Disclosure, transparency, and accountability. To provide more clarity regarding Southern Copper's performance on ESG issues, we have published a supplement to the 2022 Sustainable Development Report and have also incorporated new topics on our sustainable development page to address biodiversity, our people, human rights and the supply chain.
At the behest of our investors, we have expanded our responses to the CDP questionnaires to include the “Forests” questionnaire. This information complements responses to our “Climate change” and “Water security” questionnaires, which have been available since 2016 and 2022 respectively.
From loss to gain: A journey of environmental restoration. Year to date, we have reforested 3 times the area impacted in the same period (1,398 hectares replanted versus 424 hectares impacted). Additionally, we have implemented works to retain 10,722 tons of soil that would have otherwise been lost to erosion in the state of Sonora, Mexico. These actions are within the framework of our strategy to achieve zero net deforestation and generate a net positive impact on biodiversity, particularly in areas close to our operations.
Harmony and human development in communities where we operate. Inhabitants of the communities near our operations are highly active in the social programs we offer. Thus far this year, we have recorded 170 thousand participations in these programs, which is a 7% increase from the previous year. One of our most noteworthy efforts, the Youth Orchestras and Choirs program, recently celebrated is fifth year in Nacozari de Garcia, Sonora and is now present in 11 communities with 1,596 students in Mexico and Perú. To date, 8 out of 10 of our alumni pursue a bachelor´s degree, with 2% choosing music as their life project.
