Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have worked very hard to do our part to mitigate the spread of the virus by maintaining a safe work environment in order to protect the health, safety of our employees and contractors as well as neighbouring communities.
Our Covid-19 Response
Due to the COVID-19 decree issued by the Government of Mexico, our operations were temporarily suspended for the month of April 2020 and partially resumed in May with the processing of lower grade stockpiled material. Following the designation of mining as an essential activity in Mexico, full production resumed at the beginning of June 2020.
We have been very encouraged by the resilience of our workforce and the culture of safety we have built which has served us well through the pandemic. The multiple layers of protection approach we have taken with respect to COVID-19 is consistent with the approach we take every day in our operations to keep our people safe.
The measures we have taken include:
- Ongoing and transparent communications with our workforce, our union, and our communities;
- Implemented teleworking at our site and offices for all positions that can work remotely;
- Restrictions on international travel to and from site;
- A 3-tiered COVID-19 screening process for anyone rotating into site, including a mobile testing lab set up on our property;
- Rapid response on contact tracing;
- Isolation as required;
- COVID-19 clearance testing prior to return to work for anyone who has had the virus or is showing any symptoms;
- Enhanced cleaning protocols, distribution of protective equipment and implementation of physical barriers at site where appropriate to supportsocial distancing;
- Continued support for COVID-19 management in neighboring communities, including the implementation of infection prevention education campaigns for adults and children and the donation and delivery of medical equipment to mitigate spread of the virus;
- Partnering with local health authorities to transport employees, contractors and local community members to a nearby vaccination clinic.
While these measures haven’t kept us entirely COVID-free, they have made us very much COVID resilient. Our protocols will remain in place until the risks associated with the pandemic are fully resolved.
IMSS
In light of our efforts, Torex was very proud recently to be recognized by the national Mexican Institute of Social Security – IMSS, due to our leadership on the development of COVID 19 Precautionary Measures and the protocols implemented to mitigate risks of contagion at the workplace. We will continue to provide leadership in this area as the pandemic continues.