Water Stewardship
Copper Mountain manages both water quality and quantity, recognizing that water is a critical shared resource that is both essential to our business and vital to maintaining functional and healthy ecosystems. We strive to minimize our impact on water resources and are committed to enhancing the quality of water resources with which we interact.
Copper Mountain’s approach to responsible water management and stewardship adheres to the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Water Stewardship Protocol and is guided by our Environmental Policy. Copper Mountain’s Water Management Plan (WMP) details our water management practices, with the objective of ensuring efficient use of water resources and protection of watercourses and water quality during operation, closure, and post-closure activities at the Copper Mountain Mine site.
In order to increase our on-site water quality management focus, we created an Independent Water Review Board (IWRB) at the Copper Mountain Mine in 2021. The IWRB ensures that we are operating to global best practices, that we are mitigating environmental impacts from the site, and providing technical oversight of water management including water quality and quantity. The terms of reference of the IWRB can be found here.
Towards Sustainable Mining
Copper Mountain achieved its target, an “A” rating, in 2022.
The TSM’s Water Stewardship Protocol is based on the Water Stewardship Policy Framework. It provides a tool for companies to measure the implementation of the framework’s commitments and is comprised of four performance indicators:
- Water governance
- Operational water management
- Watershed-scale planning
- Water reporting and performance indicators
To achieve an “A” rating, a facility must demonstrate that commitments and accountabilities related to water stewardship are in place and are consistent with the TSM Water Stewardship Framework.