TRANSPARENCY: Industry commends ministers for their support

SUDBURY, Ontario – The 2014 Energy and Mines Minister conference was held this week under the watchful eyes of the Mining Association of Canada and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Yesterday, the ministers announced...

SUDBURY, Ontario – The 2014 Energy and Mines Minister conference was held this week under the watchful eyes of the Mining Association of Canada and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Yesterday, the ministers announced that they support efforts to enhance the transparency of mining sector payments to governments.

MAC president and CEO Pierre Gratton greeted the announcement, saying, "We welcome the broad support that federal and provincial mines ministers have given to improving the transparency of mining revenues paid to governments at home and abroad, and we look forward to working with all levels of government on this important initiative."

"The Canadian mineral industry generates significant economic opportunities for communities at home and abroad, ranging from jobs and training to royalty and tax revenues," noted Rod Thomas, PDAC president. "Improved transparency on revenues paid will help increase accountability and ensure that the benefits of resource development reach the more than one billion people living in resource rich countries."

MAC and the PDAC have been actively promoting the need for Canada to adopt a transparency standard since late 2012 when the associations joined two NGOs – Publish What You Pay-Canada and the Natural Resources Governance Institute (formerly the Revenue Watch Institute) – in what's known as the Resource Revenue Transparency Working Group (RRTWG).

Yesterday's announcement at the ministers' conference also contained the decision that the federal government will defer reporting of industry payments to Aboriginal governments and will continue to engage Aboriginal communities. This approach is consistent with the RRTWG's process, which felt that a separate and meaningful consultation with Aboriginal organizations and communities would be needed before extending the disclosure requirements to these groups.

Get the facts on Canadian mining at the MAC website, Mining.ca.

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