Peru's Roll Call of Shame: Reaction

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

Manic Depressive Prince, Elsinore
Long time ago and quoted out of context

I've had plenty of mailbox regarding this post on Feb 5th (which contained the chart you see above) about the number of deaths in the Peruvian mining industry over the last four and a bit years, but none better than a mail received yesterday evening from reader 'TK'. Said reader has kindly given me permission to paste an excerpt from his mail and here it is:

I have to admit the roll call of shame on your website 5 Feb was a shocker to me.

Not that I thought miners all walked around with halos over their heads, but I own some Pan American Silver and the news that there have been so many deaths at their operations in Peru is disturbing. I have been hearing more about, and starting to pay more attention to, the nasty stuff some of these companies are up to, and getting away from owning them and moving to ones that can actually live up to their claims.

Pan American isn’t one I expected to hear this about, as they have a pretty clean image. That they have worked with Doe Run Peru, another on your list, makes it worse.

TK, you're my kind of investor. Mining is a positive thing for society and the good players in the industry should be supported, but the modern responsible miners are still offset by those that are using dubious practices to forward their bottom lines. People should ask serious questions of companies such as Pan American Silver (PAAS) (PAA.to),Volcan (VOLCABC1), Buenaventura (BVN) and any other company with a clear, long-standing track record of neglect towards their workforces. At the same time, why aren't there voices congratulating those miners such as Southern Copper (PCU) that show us exemplary attitudes and minimal accident rates? Australian mining companies are very hot on their worker accident rates.....why doesn't the USA or Canada care about these things?

UPDATE: Reader 'PR' writes in to note that Pan American Silver (PAAS) (PAA.to) has its earnings call coming up on Feb 16th. Any of you mighty analyst suits ready to ask the brass about the company's health and safety record on the conference call? Go on, I double dog dare you.