Case study: How Pan American Silver creates economic value for its stakeholders
Pan American Silver is a leading producer of precious metals in the Americas, operating silver and gold mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. Pan American Silver’s core business activities generate economic value for all its stakeholders at the international, national, regional and community levels, both directly and indirectly.
This case study is based on the 2022 Sustainability Report by Pan American Silver, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
In 2022, the economic value distributed by Pan American Silver reached $1,658 million. Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Pan American Silver took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for suppliers
- create economic value for governments
- create economic value for providers of capital
- create economic value for communities
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Pan American Silver has identified;
- How Pan American Silver proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Pan American Silver to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2022 Sustainability Report Pan American Silver identified a range of material issues, such as business ethics, health and safety, biodiversity, inclusion and diversity, water stewardship. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Pan American Silver.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Pan American Silver engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees
| · Meetings and lineouts · Face-to-face interactions · Email, chats, and internal communications · Social media links · Lunch and learn sessions · Conferences · Training · Negotiations with Worker Unions · Internal memorandums and communications · Grievance mechanisms · Engagement surveys · Website |
| Contractors
| · Meetings and lineouts · Face-to-face interactions · Email and internal communications · Lunch and learn sessions · Conferences · Training · Negotiations with Worker Unions · Internal memorandums and communications · Grievance mechanisms · Engagement surveys |
| Investors
| · Annual ESG Call · Quarterly calls · Quarterly and annual reporting · Roadshows · Conferences · Meetings, phone calls and emails · Engagement surveys · Website · Annual shareholder meeting |
| Community members and Indigenous groups
| · Community offices · Face-to-face meetings · Response mechanisms · Community roundtables · Engagement surveys · Site visits · Newsletters · Radio and other media · Grievance mechanisms · Consultations · Website and annual sustainability report |
| Religious groups
| · Community offices or churches · Face-to-face meetings · Response mechanisms · Community roundtables · Engagement surveys · Grievance mechanisms · Website and annual sustainability report |
| Government
| · Community partnership meetings · Face-to-face meetings · Conferences · Public meetings · Newsletters · Consultations · Negotiations with Worker Unions · Audits and inspections · Engagement surveys · Website and annual sustainability report |
| NGOs
| · Public meetings · Response Mechanism · Conferences · Partnership discussions · Engagement surveys · Website |
| Human Rights Observers
| · Meetings · Face-to-face interactions · Engagement surveys · Website |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Pan American Silver engaged with its stakeholders through a survey among 2,264 stakeholders.
What actions were taken by Pan American Silver to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2022 Sustainability Report Pan American Silver reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2022, Pan American Silver paid $312 million for employee wages.
- Creating economic value for suppliers
- In 2022, Pan American Silver paid $440 million for local and regional procurement and $513 million for national procurement.
- Creating economic value for governments
- In 2022, Pan American Silver paid $195 million to governments.
- Creating economic value for providers of capital
- In 2022, Pan American Silver paid $101 million to providers of capital.
- Creating economic value for communities
- In 2022, Pan American Silver spent $15 million in community investments.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by Pan American Silver, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://www.panamericansilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PAS-Sustainability-Report-2022.pdf
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