At Endeavour Silver, we’re committed to environmental stewardship to protect ecosystems, reduce negative impacts and support environmental sustainability. This commitment is set out in our Sustainability Strategy and brought to life in the on-site environmental actions we take at our mines and projects.
In line with ISO 14001 guidelines, we have an Environmental Management System (EMS) with environmental monitoring systems and controls at Terronera.
We have conducted environmental baseline studies to collect data needed to identify and evaluate the potential environmental effects related to the development of our Terronera Project. These studies cover:
We monitor and analyze the local meteorological variables and the air quality in the region.
We monitor soil conditions. As the project construction evolves, we will be monitoring that the removal of soil is stored for future use or allocated in places where it will not contribute to erosion.
We have conducted a number of studies to understand the hydrology, geohydrology and water quality in the region. The project’s water supply will come primarily from the water recovered from the tailings filter plant and will compensate the evaporation losses with water pumped from the underground mine. The monitoring will continue upstream and downstream to ensure there are controls to mitigate the impacts in water quality and flow.
A biodiversity action plan is underway, which will detail the actions needed to protect and mitigate the impact in flora and fauna.
A baseline archaeological study has taken place and the INAH has been doing works in the project area to ensure no archeological artifacts are within the project area.
Similar to our other mines, the Terronera Project must comply with environmental regulations and standards in Mexico, which are in place to ensure that mining infrastructure and supporting facilities are designed and operated to minimize the impact to the natural environment.
We will perform ongoing monitoring, as required by our own Environmental Management System as well as Mexican law, to assess surface and underground water, creek sediments, soil, air, vegetation and wildlife conditions. Such due diligence will help give us an early warning system of impacts that could potentially affect the environment during the operation of the Terronera mine and long after the mine is closed.
We recognize that large scale mining projects can have direct and indirect impacts on local species, habitats and the natural world. As part of our commitment to protect biodiversity during and after the project, we are applying two international best practices at Terronera to ensure we systematically identify, mitigate and manage any potential or actual negative impacts on local ecosystems, as well as positively contribute to their conservation:
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6):
Serving as our primary reference for biodiversity management, we have adopted the standard on “Biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources” at Terronera. This standard complements the existing laws, regulations and official Mexican standards we follow, to protect and conserve biodiversity and maintain benefits derived from ecosystem services.
Equator Principles (EP4): EP4 is a risk management framework for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social project risk. They help ensure that large scale development or construction projects appropriately consider potential impacts on society and the environment. As part of our compliance with EP4, we are:
