According to Business Insider, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) explained today that they are adding two new elements to its Towards Sustainable Mining^® (TSM^®) initiative. These additions will allow the initiative to contribute to the worldwide effort to prevent child and forced labor in mining. These changes to TSM^® will ensure that the information necessary to show responsible sourcing of metals and minerals is available.

“Despite the fact that Canada has rigorous legal measures in place to prevent child and forced labour, this action was undertaken because MAC’s TSM initiative has been expanding internationally. These additions to TSM build on the program’s commitment to continuously improve the social and environmental performance of the industry.”

This effort also answers the needs of companies and organizations such as the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC). The EICC ensures that unfair labor practices are absent from their supply chains. Another example of a company’s growing demand for accountability is Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Standards, which were recently updated. The Apple standards included TSM^®, but referenced the fact that the initiative did not cover child or forced labor. Because of this, MAC took steps to make improvements in these two vital areas.