OTTAWA - Some MPs who abstained or no-showed on a big vote in the House of Commons say intense lobbying by mining companies didn't sway them.

Records filed with Canada's lobbying watchdog show nine of the 24 MPs who didn't vote were lobbied by the mining industry.

The private member's bill would have forced Canadian mining companies to toughen their environmental and human-rights standards when working abroad.

The bill lost by just six votes, 140 to 134.

An aide to Liberal MP Anthony Rota says the lobbying didn't influence his vote.

"Although he agreed with the intent of C-300, he felt that the wording of the proposed legislation was flawed," Gregory Kolz said in an email.

"As a result, rather than voting against the bill, he chose to abstain instead."

Rota was one of nine MPs who didn't vote on the bill after being lobbied by mining companies.

The others were Liberals Scott Andrews, Scott Brison, Martha Hall Findlay, Keith Martin, John McCallum and Geoff Regan, as well as New Democrats Charlie Angus and Bruce Hyer.

Hall Findlay and Regan both say their minds were already made up before they met with any lobbyists.

Hyer says he was in the Commons and didn't skip the vote, he just chose to abstain on the final vote because he didn't agree with all the amendments.

Angus says he had problems about the bill, and thought a mining ombudsman would be a better option. But he says he still would have supported it had Liberals not been telling him the bill wasn't going to pass.

"It was a judgment call at the time," he said.

"But if the Liberals aren't going to show up to support their own vote, and I've got a million other things on my plate, do I need to go and register a vote that's going to go down on a bill that's lost?"

The other MPs didn't return calls and emails.

Fifteen other Liberal, NDP, Bloc Quebecois and independent MPs also abstained from the Oct. 27 vote, but records show they were not lobbied by the mining industry.

All but one Conservative MP voted against the bill. Former environment minister Jim Prentice missed the vote because he was on his way to China for trade talks.

The lobbyist registry reveals the mining industry put a full-court press on Parliament Hill in the days and weeks leading up to the late October vote.

Lobbyists for mining companies and industry groups reported dozens of "communications" with MPs, senators, political staff and senior bureaucrats in September and October.

Some were one-on-one meetings, while others were with groups of people.

The registry shows MPs were lobbied by Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX.TO), the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G.TO), Vale Canada Inc., Iamgold Corp. (TSX:IMG), the Mining Association of Canada, Stillwater Mining Company and Xstrata Nickel.

Industry watchdog group MiningWatch Canada also lobbied MPs.