Water stewardship
We recognize that water is a shared resource of great environmental, social, cultural, and economic value. Protecting it is key to earning and maintaining the trust of communities and regulators in the regions where we operate and develop projects. We are committed to effective water management and stewardship, stakeholder collaboration, and transparency in our performance.
Governance
The ESG Steering Committee (see ESG Governance section) is responsible for evaluating the organization’s water management and stewardship performance. The Tailings Steering Committee promotes synergies between good engineering practices and operational governance related to tailings and water management. The operational and environmental teams of our business divisions oversee water stewardship in mining, metals, chemicals, and project development. We have performance guidelines that define water management roles and responsibilities for everyone involved—from executive leadership to operational staff.
Context of strategic considerations
In the mining industry, access to water depends on physical availability, compliance with the regulatory framework, and positive relationships with communities and other stakeholders. These strategic considerations include:
Physical water availability: water stress
and climate change
Water availability is increasingly threatened by water stress in the watersheds where we operate and by the physical impacts of climate change. In Mexico, climate change is expected to increase temperatures, evaporation rates, and reduce annual rainfall. It will also intensify extreme rainfall events and prolong droughts, all contributing to heightened water stress.
These conditions highlight the importance of operational practices and technologies that reduce water consumption, increase reuse and recycling, explore the use of brackish or sewage water, and foster collaboration with communities and governments.
Evolution of the regulatory framework and stakeholder expectations
Water regulatory frameworks are expected to evolve globally in response to stakeholder demands and climate change. As water becomes scarcer, its real value will rise, potentially increasing costs. There will be growing expectations for collaboration between mining companies and other local water users, particularly neighboring communities. Projects located in watersheds within Indigenous territories will face heightened consultation expectations.
Implications for value creation levers
Strategic water challenges may affect key value drivers, highlighting the need for a robust water stewardship strategy.
These implications include:
- Limitation on growth
- Mine closure
- Reduced or interrupted production
- Lower revenues due to decreased output
- Higher production costs
- Upfront costs for implementing new practices
- Increased compliance expenses
- Reputational damage
- Deterioration or loss of social license
- Fines and penalties
- Litigation
- Supply chain disruption
Impact, opportunity, and risk management
Our strategy for managing water-related impacts, risks, and opportunities is based on three pillars aligned with the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Position Statement on Water Stewardship and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Water management and care
A key process in our strategy involves identifying and mitigating physical, regulatory, reputational/market, and technological risks in the watersheds where we operate and throughout our value chain.
| Type of risk |
Potential risks |
| Chronic physical |
Changes in annual rainfall, aquifer depletion, water stress, infrastructure shortages, ecosystem vulnerability, land-use change, soil degradation, acid mine drainage. |
| Acute physical |
Hurricanes, droughts, extreme rainfall, environmental incidents, tailings spills. |
| Regulatory |
Increased water prices, stricter regulations, permit challenges, rationing, reduced concession volumes. |
| Reputational/market |
Community opposition, stakeholder concerns, litigation, negative media coverage. |
| Technological |
Limited watershed data, lack of efficient technologies, underperforming tech investments. |
Effective water management
Effective water management considers both quantity and quality, along with impact prevention. Our main resilience strategies in water-stressed areas include reducing consumption and utilizing water of varied quality. We leverage process and environmental monitoring to help avoid impacts on water resources.
> Quantity and quality of water sources
We aim to reduce freshwater use through technology selection and continuous improvement. Closed-loop systems enable water recirculation and eliminate process discharges.
The nature of our operations allows us to use water of varying qualities, reducing dependence on freshwater. We integrate wastewater reuse from local communities, and we recycle our own gray and black water. Some processes can also utilize brackish water, reducing freshwater needs in
water-stressed areas.
> Preventing impacts on water resources
During project development, we conduct hydrological and geohydrological studies as part of our environmental baseline and impact assessments. We also incorporate water considerations in our social studies, allowing for ecosystem and community impacts to be considered in project design. We select technologies and processes that avoid negative impacts on water quantity and quality.
In our operations, we use site- and facility-level water balances to inform water management plans. Monitoring plans ensure compliance with environmental authorizations and water use permits. We implement critical controls to prevent environmental incidents as part of our High Potential Strategy. Integrated mine closure plans also consider water-related impacts and aim to generate positive environmental and community outcomes.
Collaboration in the responsible and sustainable use of water
Performance and collaboration with communities and regulators for the sustainable use of water are vital for earning trust and maintaining social license. We engage stakeholders and promote responsible water use through partnerships. We have formal agreements to treat wastewater in Torreón and Fresnillo, reducing freshwater use and easing the treatment burden for municipalities.
Through taxes and fees, we contribute to public investment in water infrastructure, and work with communities on joint projects to improve water access in the regions where we operate.
Transparency and governance in water management
We are committed to improving our water performance accounting and reporting, using the ICMM Water Accounting Framework and GRI standards. We continue expanding internal standards and implementing critical controls as part of our High Potential Strategy.
