I can give you a very concrete example in Canada, and more specifically in Quebec.
We are presently working in northern Quebec, where we have come to an agreement with the Cree. We are actually including them in our activities to the extent that they also benefit from the company’s profits. A number of people from the Cree community have also been hired at the mine; as of now, they represent about 53% of the workforce there. We think that is a very meaningful percentage. Normally, the percentage of Cree workers hired during the establishment and construction of a mine is much lower.
We always make sure to work with the community to look at all the products and services that they can provide us with so that those services can come directly to the mine. By conducting our activities in that way, we certainly provide positive and direct benefits to the community.
We work that way because, above all, we want to make sure that we have a positive effect on the community. Sometimes, we go above and beyond, as we do with royalties. For example, in Guatemala, we pay royalties to the federal government. But then the amount of money that goes directly to the community is sometimes much lower than the amount of royalties paid to the country. That is why we have begun to look at ways to pay voluntary royalties directly to the communities and to work with it to develop its economic development plan. In that way, we will not only be paying taxes federally, we will be investing directly in the community.