Pan American Silver recognizes the importance of biodiversity to preserve ecosystems. Our goal is to minimize net habitat loss over the full mining cycle at each of our operations, and return land disturbed by our activities to as close to its natural state as possible.  All our sites have biodiversity conservation management plans.

At our Escobal operation in Guatemala, a baseline study was established in 2009, before the mine was constructed, that determined the presence of different species of wild cats within the property, specifically Yaguarundis, Ocelots and Tigrillos.

In order to protect the habitat of these feline species, Pan American Silver:

• Established a baseline for the availability of habitat, resources, feeding and breeding sites
• Expanded the area preserved for habitat protection to more than 126 hectares
• Established a forest fire prevention program
• Prohibited hunting and extraction of flora and fauna on the property
• Hosted awareness workshops and training in protecting biodiversity

PAS Guatemala received an award from the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala for its work in protecting feline species within the Escobal property.