"ESG issues"FP says ESG issues emerge post-Imperial Metals disaster 2020-03-10 07:22 ET - In the News The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that ESG, the acronym and catchphrase for environmental, sustainability and governance principles, has skyrocketed almost overnight to the top of most mining companies' priorities. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that Ani Markova, an independent portfolio manager who advises the mining industry on ESG, said there has been a "huge demand" from investors for companies with higher ESG ratings and it has affected every aspect of the capital markets, from pensions to green bonds to private equity. "We have seen a big shift in the philosophy behind financial analysis from a simple analysis of income statements and balance sheets," Ms. Markova told the Prospectors and Developers Association in Toronto, "to now, a more complex levering of factors including the ethics of a company, the competitive advantages, and the culture, which are more intangible assets." The reason, she said, is that such factors have real impacts on financial and operational performance, and the investment sector is beginning to see these as part of their fiduciary duty. In 2014, the Mount Polley mine's tailings dam in British Columbia failed, resulting in catastrophic damage to the environment. 2020 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.