In the town of Guanajuato on Mexico’s central plateau, mining and the community are inextricably intertwined.

The town was founded in the early Spanish colonial period following the discovery of silver there by a mule driver named Juan de Rayas.

Guanujuato grew up around those first rich deposits, and although there have been some production hiatuses along the way, the town is still thriving and the ore beneath it is still giving up metal.

But having a town right on top of your mine creates an interesting dynamic with the local population, as Great Panther Silver, the current owner of the Guanajuato Mine Complex, knows only too well.

The company recognises that in circumstances such as these good community relations are essential, particularly as Guanajuato is also the capital of the state and the government lives and works there.

“We’re pretty much in the spotlight”, says Bob Archer, the company’s chief executive. “The city exists because of the mines and that’s not that unusual, although you wouldn’t see it nowadays – you wouldn’t put your camp on top of your deposit”.

But there’s an old mining adage that says you have to go where God put the rocks, and in this case God put a town on top of them too.

There are certain advantages for Great Panther. The town’s whole culture revolves around mining – there is skilled labour on hand, there is none of the suspicion about chemicals that can arise when mining first comes into a district, the government is used to permitting and regulating, and a big part of the areas revenue derives from the mines themselves.

Indeed, the closeness of the relationship has been recognised by the Mexican Centre for Philanthropy and the Alliance for Corporate Social responsibility in the granting of an award several years in a row.

“It’s based on a very wide range of programmes”, says Bob, “from community engagement, to tree planting, and things for our workers like scholarships and university places.”

And these are not one-offs, either. Every year, Great Panther holds a tree-planting ceremony and invites the enthusiastic participation of local families (see picture). Natives trees are planted across Great Panther’s properties, including on tailings dams and topographical features that have in some way been altered by the company’s mining activities.

Among those who have taken part over the years are the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Federal Organisation for Environmental Protection, and the Department of Mines at the University of Guanajuato.

And, tree planting and scholarships aside, Great Panther is involved with the university in other ways too.

“In partnership with the university we’ve set up a mining museum”, says Bob. “And it’s become a venue for local artists, photographers and artisans to display their work”. It also helps to foster a greater sense of identity for the town of Guanajuato itself, an awareness of its roots and history.

It’s not all been plain sailing though. The long-standing existence of the mines at Guanajuato does mean that some locals have come to regard them as property that ought to be held communally. There has been some illegal mining and some violence associated with it as security guards have engaged the illegal workers.

This caused some ructions in the town last year, as two people were shot and killed, although in one case the sequence of events relating to the death was never established.

“No charges were laid”, says Bob. “We’ll never really know for sure who shot the guy.”

But a battle for hearts and minds then ensued. The illegal miners, says Bob, tried to turn public sentiment against Great Panther.

“What we found was that there was less support for them than we thought there might be. People recognised that the illegal miners were criminals and that they were taking young kids and trying to convert them to a life of crime. There really wasn’t much support for these guys at all.”

In fact, says Bob, although the circumstances were tragic, there were ultimately benefits to Great Panther.

“It was an opportunity to really engage with the locals even more”, he says. “To demonstrate that we really do care about the community.”

And so the CSR work continues in earnest and Great Panther continues to contribute to the local economy in its own significant way – by employing 650 people and paying both royalty and earnings taxes.