President’s Message MICHAEL STEINMANN // PRESIDENT & CEO
2019 marked Pan American Silver’s 25th year of operation. This was a transformative year for the Company with the acquisition of Tahoe Resources, and I am proud of our accomplishments. I am equally proud of our continued commitment to building and maintaining a reputation for excellence in discovery, engineering, innovation, safety and long-term sustainability. With the acquisition, we added four new operations to our portfolio: La Arena and Shahuindo in Peru, Timmins West and Bell Creek in Canada, and Escobal in Guatemala. We also doubled our workforce and our silver reserves and added substantial gold production. Our focus in 2019 was the integration of the Tahoe assets into our portfolio, including instilling Pan American Silver’s values and sustainability approach at the new operations. We have also been working to leverage synergies and share best practices, which are already contributing to performance improvements across the organization. I would like to thank both the Pan American Silver and Tahoe Resources teams for their efforts in making the transition successful. We are continuously striving to improve our sustainability performance. One component of this is the implementation of the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) protocols and frameworks, a world class management standard designed to help mining companies address and manage key sustainability issues. We are on track to reach level A in 2020 at all of our operations other than those acquired through Tahoe; we anticipate reaching level A at those operations by 2022. During the year, we made significant efforts towards formalizing our approach to human rights. We implemented a new Human Rights Policy and appointed a Human Rights Officer. We are also deepening our alignment with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and UNICEF Canada’s Child Rights and Security Checklist at operations using security forces.
4 // 2019 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
Following the acquisition of the Escobal mine in Guatemala, during 2019, we settled the Garcia v. Tahoe Resources Inc. case, which was brought against Tahoe for the use of violence during a protest at the mine in 2013. It was important to demonstrate that we strive to reach peaceful, amicable resolution to conflicts through constructive and respectful dialogue. Mining operations at Escobal remain suspended and on care and maintenance, pending completion of an International Labour Organization 169 consultation process by the Government of Guatemala. During this time, we are complying with the requirements of Escobal’s environmental management plan, which includes respecting existing commitments to the communities and responding to requests for information. Our human rights policy also reinforces our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Diversity makes us better, and we will continue to emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusivity at all our operations, including increasing the number of women in our workforce. In 2020, we will be piloting our Building Respect Together program with the intention of creating more respectful, safe, and sustainable work environments. The program will also include content to foster greater understanding and protection of, and respect for women’s rights. We believe responsible mining can provide important benefits to communities. Our host communities are stakeholders in our success, and we work with them
