Ankara, Turkey, September 15, 2025 – The Miners Association of Türkiye (MAT) announced today its adoption of Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), a made-in-Canada corporate social responsibility performance system that improves environmental and social practices in the mining sector.
As a result, MAT and its affiliated companies will adopt a set of indicators that will allow them to measure and publicly report on the most integral aspects of its mining industry, including those focused on environmental stewardship and effective community engagement
MAT President Mehmet Yılmaz described this collaboration as a “historic step” for the sector. “The true value of mining is revealed through the establishment of a culture of occupational safety, increased environmental awareness, and the formation of strong ties with the community. The signature we have placed today is a fundamental step that embodies our long-held philosophy of ‘people and the environment first, mining second.”
Together, MAT joins 13 other mining associations around the world to adopt TSM, underscoring the program’s growing global presence. Other countries’ national mining associations currently implementing TSM include: Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Botswana, Australia, Philippines, Norway, Mongolia and Finland.
TSM is a globally recognized sustainability program that supports mining companies in managing key environmental and social responsibilities. TSM was the first mining sustainability standard in the world to require site-level assessments and is mandatory for all companies that are members of implementing associations. Through TSM, nine critical aspects of social and environmental performance are evaluated, independently validated, and publicly reported against 30 distinct performance indicators.
“As the Mining Association of Canada works with The Copper Mark, ICMM and World Gold Council (WGC) to consolidate four different responsible mining standards into one global Standard – the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI), it is our privilege to share our tools and expertise in sustainable mining practices with the world,” said Pierre Gratton, MAC’s President and CEO. “As a constantly evolving standard, TSM is particularly attractive globally due to its focus on climate change, effective tailings management and Indigenous and community relationships and we are proud to announce the adoption of our made-in-Canada TSM initiative in Turkey, which will provide an invaluable stepping stone for the future consolidated standard.”
Performance in TSM is evaluated across a set of detailed environmental and social performance standards, including climate change, tailings management, water stewardship, Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management, diversity equity and inclusion and preventing child and forced labour. TSM helps drive performance improvement where it counts — at the site level — and contributes to securing support for mining activities from the communities where it operates.
To ensure TSM reflects the expectations of civil society and industry stakeholders, it was designed and continues to be shaped by an independent, multi-interest panel. As part of its implementation, MAT will implement a similar body to provide this valuable oversight function.
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ABOUT MAT
Founded in 1948, the Miners Association of Türkiye is Türkiye’s oldest mining NGO. Its members account for approximately 70% of Türkiye’s total mining production. For more information, please visit www.tmder.org.tr.
ABOUT MAC
The Mining Association of Canada is the national organization for the Canadian mining industry. Its members account for most of Canada’s production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical coal and mined oil sands, and are actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication. Please visit www.mining.ca.
ABOUT TSM
The Towards Sustainable Mining® initiative is a sustainability standard developed by the Mining Association of Canada. Mining companies are expected to report annually on the implementation of each protocol. In addition, their performance results are evaluated by an external auditor every three years. Please visit www.mining.ca/tsm.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Hébert, The Mining Association of Canada
+1.613.292.2876 or phebert@mining.ca
Murat Fırat, Turkish Mining Association
