{"id":23051,"date":"2022-04-13T22:56:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T22:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/share.ca\/?p=23051"},"modified":"2022-04-14T05:16:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T05:16:12","slug":"church-of-england-mine-tailings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/share.ca\/blog\/church-of-england-mine-tailings\/","title":{"rendered":"SHARE supports Church of England investor initiative on mine tailings\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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As annual meeting season is about to start in earnest, SHARE is recommending withholding support for the Board Chairs at mining companies that do not commit to review the\u00a0Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management\u00a0with a view to implementing it.<\/h3>\n

This follows a\u00a0Church of England Pension Board announcement<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year that it will oppose the re-election of Chairs of mining companies that fail to undertake such a review.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommitment to the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management<\/a> is an essential step to ensuring the safe management of tailings dams and to avoid future disasters. Starting in 2022, the Church of England will vote against board chairs at relevant companies that have not indicated to either implement the Standard or assess its implications for their operations. We greatly welcome the leadership and action being taken by SHARE on this crucial issue.\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Adam<\/b>\u00a0Matthews, Church of England Pension Board Chief Responsible Investment Office.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Among the non-responding Canadian-traded miners listed by the Church of England Pension Board are Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., Lundin Gold Inc., Imperial Metals Corp., and Northern Dynasty Minerals. Imperial Metals Corp. operates the Mount Polley Mine, where a tailings dam failure led to the release of an estimated 24 million cubic metres of mine waste into salmon bearing waterways in 2014.<\/p>\n

A full list of mining company responses to the Standard can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Spearheaded by the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish Council on Ethics, the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management was created in the wake of the fatal tailings dam failure at Vale\u2019s Corrego do Feijao mine in Brazil in January 2019.<\/p>\n

The voting policy is being implemented by\u00a0Groupe Investissement Responsible<\/a>\u00a0for institutions using the\u00a0SHARE Proxy Voting Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about this issue and SHARE\u2019s Religious Investor Network<\/a>, please visit our Initiative<\/a> page, or contact Peter Chapman, Senior Advisor at pchapman@share.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Featured image c\/o Barsamuphe<\/a> via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n