24 2 01 9 S U S T AINABILITY REPOR T QA with Br ent B er g er on S enior V ic e P r e sident C orpor at e Af air s and Sus t ainabilit y Q S i n c e j o i n i n g P a n A m e r i c a n S i l v e r i n 2 0 1 9 w h a t d o y o u s e e a s t h e Co mp a n y s k e y s u sta i na b i l i t y c ha l l e n g es a n d o p p o r t u n i t i es A P an Americ an Silv er f ac e s man y o f the s ame k e y challeng e s as tho s e f ac ed b y other int ernational mining c omp anie s W e ar e under c ons t ant pr e s sur e t o be mor e efcient and pr oductiv e and at the s ame time mak e our oper ations s af er and impr o v e our en vir onment al and s ocial perf ormanc e W e ha v e oper ations in ar e as subject t o politic al and ther e f or e ec onomic and s ocial ins t abilit y which under s c or e s the import anc e o f ong oing dialogue and building trus t with ho s t c ommunitie s NGO s and g o v ernment s W e mus t c ontinuously demons tr at e an abilit y t o pr o vide v alue t o br o ader s t ak eholder s O ne o f the bigg e s t opportunitie s f or us g oing f or w ar d is t o de v elop a mor e s y s t ematic appr o ach t o managing me asuring and monit oring our sus t ainabilit y objectiv e s and sus t ainabilit y risk s P an Americ an Silv er has tr aditionally been a dec entr aliz ed c omp an y with a s tr ong s ens e o f entr epr eneur ship This s tructur e has allo w ed oper ations t o be r e sponsiv e t o loc al is sue s and t o cr e at e suc c e s s ful c ont e xt specifc sus t ainabilit y pr ogr ams and inno v ations In the p as t y e ar w e doubled our siz e and e xp anded g eogr aphic ally s o it is vit al f or us t o implement s y s t ems that enable all o f our oper ations t o meet glob al sus t ainabilit y s t andar ds and s t ak eholder e xpect ations This will help us manag e risk maint ain cr edibilit y and be suc c e s s ful in the long t erm Q H o w i s t h e m i n i n g i n d u s t r y r e s p o n d i n g t o c r i t i c a l s u s t a i n a b i l i t y i s s u e s s u c h a s c l i m a t e c h a n g e A P r ogr e s siv e mining c omp anie s r ec ogniz e the need t o mo v e a w a y fr om tr aditional w a y s o f doing busine s s I s ee t echnology and inno v ation as of ering the gr e at e s t pot ential f or the indus tr y t o r e spond in a me aningful w a y t o sus t ainabilit y challeng e s while at the s ame time meeting busine s s objectiv e s F or e x ample w e c an electrif y mining equipment tr aditionally po w er ed b y die s el This not only r educ e s gr eenhous e g as emis sions but it c an als o r educ e oper ating c o s t s Ther e ar e bene ft s t o w ork er s he alth as w ell such as impr o v ement s in under gr ound and or loc al air qualit y and r eductions in mine nois e When c onsidering inno v ation it will be incr e asingly import ant f or c omp anie s t o look f or the o v erlap o f busine s s and c ommunit y objectiv e s F or ins t anc e r educing fr e sh w at er c onsumption thr ough r eus e or r ec y cling or using ne w pr oc e s sing t echnologie s c an cr e at e efciencie s and lo w er oper ating c o s t s B y c ollabor ating with c ommunitie s on w at er manag ement w e c an fnd w a y s t o support c ommunit y g o als and alle viat e c onc erns ar ound c ompetition f or w at er S u s t ai n a bi l i t y C h al le n g e s a n d O p p o r t u nit i e s