Value Distribution: The Benefits of Gold Mining to Host Countries

Goldcorp’s Cerro Negro project is located near the town of Perito Moreno, in northern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. In an area that is seeking to diversify its economic development options, Goldcorp looked for ways to partner on education and training that contribute to the skills base in order to provide socio-economic improvement that will last beyond the life of the mine.

Among several programmes, Goldcorp supported an eight-month professional-level workshop in the fabrication of industrial workwear, and a workshop on the creation of artisanal chocolate products. The workshops were organised in cooperation with community institutions and authorities with the intent of developing skills that have the potential to grow from home-based work to successful small businesses. Goldcorp also offers a number of programmemes that benefit students, families, and local education systems, such as university and sports scholarships and internship programmes.

Kinross’ Paracatu mine borders a historic mining city of 84,000 inhabitants. The company takes specific steps to reduce the effects of blasting by using the most technologically advanced electronic explosives available, reducing the amount of explosives and packing more material on top of the explosives to limit the escape of noise energy. As a result, the air pressure vibration level generated by a blast averages below two millimetres per second, which is far below the maximum 15 millimetres permissible by local law.

Community members participate in daily monitoring to ensure noise and vibration levels are met. The company has also introduced a 24 hour telephone hotline, which allows the company to respond immediately to community complaints. This constant communication and interaction has helped the mine anticipate potential issues ahead of time and integrate community priorities into the mine plan.

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The Atacama region, where Barrick’s Pascua-Lama project is located, receives very little annual precipitation, making water-related issues a top concern for local communities. To promote transparency around the project’s impacts, Barrick invited community representatives from the project area to participate in community water monitoring. Community members learned about the water sample collection process and how baseline measurements are established. They joined staff from the mine in sampling water at various monitoring points. The samples were delivered to an independent, accredited laboratory and tested for 95 different parameters. Involving the local community is an important part of Barrick’s broader engagement efforts. Doing so helps promote transparency and builds trust both in the process and results of water quality assessments that happen regularly around the project area.

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Positive reinforcement in health and safety is a growing concept in China. Eldorado Gold’s Jinfeng health, safety, training and emergency response team is educating workers and local communities in the new ‘Positive Safety’ philosophy. This philosophy aims to increase workforce interaction and provide encouragement to those who are applying good safety management and hazard recognition principles. Jinfeng awards many civil contracts to local communities that increase the villages’ incomes and also provide skill development.

The increased training for the surrounding Buyi communities, employees and their families is resulting in a better understanding of personal health and safety. Training includes a tailor-made programme to provide first-aid skills for all community members, the first of its kind to be completed in the region.

Hire is a township of some 40,000 people, which is located approximately 15km from Newcrest’s Bonikro mine. The town has developed rapidly in recent years, and much of the growth has been driven by Bonikro, as well as other mining activities in the region. At this stage, the facilities and services in Hire are not adequate to cope with the population. Therefore, the company has undertaken a town sanitation and maintenance project as a major capacity-building exercise in partnership with UNDP.

The objective is to facilitate adequate waste management and drainage controls to ensure that the needs of the local population are met. The Newcrest-UNDP sanitation project aims at achieving a fundamental re-evaluation and re-education on how a micro-society should manage their wastes in a developing urban setting where people are not fully educated in the management of modern waste.

The Margajita River used to flow dark red due to acidic water, a product of acid rock drainage (ARD), discharged by the previous operator of the Pueblo Viejo mine. ARD occurs naturally in the area around the Margajita River and, if not properly treated, can be exacerbated by the large open pits and waste rock produced during the mining process.

When a joint venture between Barrick (60%) and Goldcorp (40%) acquired control of the Pueblo Viejo mine, a large water treatment plant was built. Approximately 40,000 cubic meters of water are treated daily at the plant.

The changes in the Margajita River were evident within days of the treatment plant starting operations. Instead of dark red, the water turned clear, reflecting its natural colour. The water’s pH level climbed dramatically and there are early signs of aquatic life returning to the river. Now locals enjoy fishing on the river once again.

Goldcorp’s Marlin mine has two freshwater production wells in operation which supply water to the process plant, underground mine, dust suppression water trucks and camp/administration areas via a raw water storage pond. As the mine continued to grow and increase production, it did so with the objective of continuously improving the water balance efficiency and increasing the percentage of recycled water from the tailings storage facility to the supply system and decrease the percentage of freshwater extracted from the environment. In 2011, filtration of the tailings began and the water recycle rate peaked at 97%.

Since then, modifications that could be made to improve water recycling from the tailings storage facility were made, and the water recycling rate to the plant has remained stable at approximately 98%.

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Newcrest’s CSR programme at Gosowong places a priority on sustainable economic development, including the diversification and development of local agriculture, farming and aquaculture industries. It is supplemented by annual allocations to each village for them to develop their own community infrastructure, health and education interventions. The programme currently supports the creation of cassava, corn and sago plantations, and associated marketing and sales arrangements.

The first cassava harvest took place in 2013, producing 20,000kg of cassava which was further processed to produce tapioca flour. Such agriculture projects are estimated to increase the current average income of the families involved by almost 40%. This extra money can be used to support other business development activities and improve living standards. The next phase of this programme will be to transfer ownership and control to local farmers.

The safety system at Primero’s San Dimas Mine is a model of improvement for teams and working groups whose purpose is to promote a safety-first culture and monitor safety performance. The Central Health and Safety Committee, Document System Subcommittee and Planned Observations teams monitor performance, define work procedures and conduct field observations highlighting safe behaviour while identifying improvement opportunities in workplace conditions or work habits. The Circles of Prevention employee involvement programme promotes a safety-first work culture implementing improvement opportunities while supporting ongoing safety programmes. The joint Accident and Incident Investigation Subcommittee meet regularly to analyse and investigate lost-time accidents and near-miss incidents.

In July 2014 the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare in Durango recognised the company’s exemplary safety performance and invited it to share their programme successes with the mining sector as an example for the rest of the state.

Mine closure at Centerra’s Boroo mine has been planned since before commencing operations in 2003. Physical reclamation activities started as early as 2006 and include contouring disturbed land, spreading previously stockpiled topsoil, and re-vegetating these areas. Local communities, universities and government agencies are involved in native seed collection, establishing tree nurseries and re-introducing marmot. By the end of 2013, Boroo had fully reclaimed nearly 400 hectares or 50% of the previously disturbed land and handed it back to the local government.

Centerra also recognises the social dimension of mine closure. In consultation with labour union representatives, Boroo provided language training courses to improve the opportunities of our former workforce to find jobs elsewhere. Former staff have found that their practical training and experiences gained while working at the mine have greatly improved their employability.

Building or improving water infrastructure in the highlands of Peru is a major engineering challenge that cannot be accomplished by a single institution because of the high costs and specific technical skills. In this context, Buenaventura has adopted a collaborative strategy with the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI) and four local governments in the regions of Lima, Arequipa and Ayacucho.

Buenaventura is responsible for the technical studies and leads coordination between the different parties. Local governments secure the maintenance of the projects and the MINAGRI is responsible for their evaluation and funding. This private-public partnership is in the process of building two irrigation channels, two dams and one reservoir with a total investment of more than $7 million. The new infrastructure will add 2,943 acres of irrigated land and will directly benefit more than 3,000 agricultural producers.

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Kinross’ Kupol operations are located in the remote Chukotka region of northeastern Russia, 200 kilometres from the nearest town. While mining has historically been a cornerstone of the region’s economy, most of the previous mining was completed decades ago and did not employ modern technologies. Kupol is one of only a few significant employers in the area, providing much-needed jobs at its two underground mines – Kupol and Dvoinoye, and processing mill.

The mine operates an on-site training centre that helps locals acquire the skills to work at modern mining operations. Workers who complete the training receive accredited professional certifications recognised throughout Russia under a licence obtained from Chukotka’s Department of Education. Currently, the centre provides 36 different certificates in such careers as underground miner and haul truck driver. Since the centre opened in 2008, approximately 2,000 people have been trained and Kinross has issued more than 860 certificates to employees, including 67 indigenous residents.

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As part of its commitment to principles of sustainable development, Alamos Gold consulted extensively with residents of the communities surrounding the company’s project sites in Turkey in order to assess their priorities. Alamos then proceeded to undertake several initiatives in support of cultural activities and infrastructure development in the local region. Examples include the planting of more than 14,000 trees and 200 kilograms of indigenous flowers, providing scholarships to more than 80 students, construction of a milk cold storage centre, renovation and construction of housing, and planned construction and maintenance of a sewage system and water pipeline. In addition, as part of the proposed development of its Kirazlı and Ağı Dağı projects in Turkey, Alamos plans to construct a large water reservoir project facility that will not only meet the needs of the company’s projects, but will also provide clean, healthy drinking and utility water to several nearby villages. The company believes these contributions will improve the social and economic welfare of the local communities, and provide a foundation for sustainable prosperity benefiting future generations.