The mining complex of Vale's Carajás iron mine in Brazil, the company's biggest operation. Courtesy of Salviano Machado/ Vale.

The national mining association of Brazil, Instituto Brasileiro de Mineraçã (IBRAM), announced on Sept. 9 that it will adopt the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) program for its own domestic mining industry.

“We’ve seen the potential of TSM to improve practices in countries that it’s implemented in, and our goal has been to share freely with those countries,” MAC senior vice-president Ben Chalmers said in an interview with CIM Magazine. “IBRAM is the most recent [mining association] to see that value and decide to join us. They’re the seventh country, including Canada, to adopt, but they’re also the largest mining association and mining jurisdiction outside of Canada to adopt, so it’s a very significant agreement for us.”