Canadian-owned mining companies, which have operations throughout Mexico, went on to announce the formal adoption of the international standard Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) in a context wherein the federal government happens to be holding consultations with Canada pertaining to alleged environmental damage that has been caused by some of these companies.
The commitment, which happens to be signed by the Mining Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico – Cancham looks forward to strengthening social, environmental, and governance responsibility practices according to a recognized international framework.
As per the document, the TSM which has been developed by the Mining Association of Canada – goes on to promote consistent improvement when it comes to the mining sector all across a wide range of social and environmental areas by way of a commitment to performance measurement, public reporting, and independent auditing.
The president of the Mining Association of Canada, Pierre Gratton, stressed the fact that the adoption of the yardstick is going to allow Canadian mining companies in Mexico to go ahead and establish a new benchmark of responsible conduct that happens to serve as a guide for businesses.
When it came to his part, Cameron Mackay, the Canadian ambassador to Mexico, stated that the decision isn’t only a symbolic gesture; however, it happens to be a concrete step to make sure that Canadian investment in the Mexican mining sector remains a positive force, more than ever, for the communities, for the environment, and, of course, for the long-term prosperity of Mexico.
It is well to be noted that the agreement happens to fall under the Mexico-Canada Action Plan 2025-2026, especially within the section on Joint Action on Responsible Mining. As per the president of the Business Coordinating Council – CCE, Francisco Cervantes, this initiative goes on to respond to the demand that has been agreed upon by the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada when it comes to the mining industry to go ahead and continue putting in place the community and environmental protection protocols that are in line with their shared aspirations so as to build a framework in terms of sustainable development.
The joining of Mexico with the TSM comes at a time when the Mexican government has gone ahead and demanded explanations from Canada as per an alleged environmental violation made by some of its mining companies. In September 2025, President Claudia Sheinbaum went on to reveal that Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a very positive response to the commitment made by the government to review the cases that involve Canadian companies that are accused of violating environmental laws.
Sheinbaum remarked that he responded in a couple of ways – the first was that they obviously have to comply when it comes to environmental regulations, that mining should be sustainable; and the second, that they should rather give his team the list of mining companies that were not complying, she recounted during her press conference that happened daily.
It is worth noting that among the most recent cases happens to be that of Equinox Gold, which has been accused by Carrizalillo’s ejido members, based out of the municipality of Eduardo Neri, Guerrero state, of allegedly being the reason for the very severe damage at the Los Filos open-pit mine. The community members have already been staging a sit-in since September 2025 so as to demand environmental remediation steps following the closure of operations of the company because of a lack of agreement in terms of renewing the land lease.
They are going to ask the Ministry of the Environment to see how they can go ahead and offer the much-required support, the president responded on October 27, 2025, on being questioned about the conflict.
Apparently, in August 2025, Equinox went on to report that it was actually stressing about resuming activities across its Los Filos mine post reaching agreements at the end of June 2025 with both Mezcala and Xochipala of the three surrounding communities.
Darren Hall, the CEO, said during a conference call pertaining to the second quarter results that the Vancouver-based miner happened to be working with those groups in order to resume exploration and was also coming up with a plan that could very well allow mining activity to go ahead and move forward while the talks still continued along with Carrizalillo, the third community.
Notably, in April 2025, the Vancouver-based mining company went on to report that it had gone ahead and indefinitely suspended its operations at Los Filos after its land access agreement along with the Carrizalillo community expired on March 31, 2025.
In spite of the tensions, both the Mexican and the Canadian governments have gone ahead and reiterated their interest when it comes to strengthening their bilateral relationship. According to Sheinbaum, this goes on to mean that the Canadian companies can very much invest in Mexico and Mexican companies can invest the other way round and that they are indeed making their complementarity in trade quite robust.
The fact is that by way of adopting the TSM standard, the Canadian mining companies in Mexico are looking forward to sending a signal of commitment to sustainability as well as transparency at a time of growing scrutiny that pertains to their environmental effect within the country.