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Corporate Social Responsibility

How miners can better manage community resettlement as demand for metals rises – by Gerry Reddy and Mike Steyn (Northern Miner – August 22, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

It’s an undeniable fact that the world needs more metals to deal with the effects of climate change and to achieve net zero by 2050. Renewable energy (solar panels, wind turbines), electrification of transportation and the need for more power infrastructure are only part of the demand picture.

There will also be a huge need to upgrade, replace and build new infrastructure to manage and adapt to the impacts of climate change, for example, in relation to sea walls, drainage systems and other facilities in low lying coastal cities.

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News Release: Mining for Miracles Eyes 2022 Completion of $3.385 Million Fundraising Goal to Establish Cellular and Regenerative Medicine Centre (CRMC) at BC Children’s Hospital (B.C. Children’s Hospital – February 16, 2022)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mining for Miracles, the BC mining industry’s long-standing fundraising campaign for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, launched its 2022 campaign today with Premier John Horgan, in support of BC Children’s Hospital’s Cellular and Regenerative Medicine Centre (CRMC), the first of its kind in Western Canada.

“Mining for Miracles continues to demonstrate how the women and men working in the BC mining industry contribute to the strength and resilience of families and communities across our province,” said Premier Horgan. “This is just one of the many ways the resource industry makes our province stronger.”

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ESG concerns may slow mine development for energy transition: Trafigura CEO – by Diana Kinch (S&P Global – June 15, 2021)

https://www.spglobal.com/

London — Policymakers are becoming increasingly aware that environmental, social and governance issues may stand in the way of development of new mine projects to feed the growing “green revolution,” Jeremy Weir, executive chairman and CEO of global commodities trader Trafigura, said June 15.

“Unless we address that, we’re going to have a serious problem,” Weir said in an interview session during the Financial Times Global Commodities Summit. “Metals intensity is going to be enormous as we construct the infrastructure for energy transition.”

Companies in Asia and increasingly in Europe are striving to source metals including copper and cobalt to meet demand for batteries for electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure, the executive noted.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canadian gold mining company Agnico Eagle gives $10 million to enable game-changing cancer discoveries at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (May 27, 2021)

Agnico Eagle’s cumulative gift surpasses $25 million, making it one of the largest corporate charitable investments in Canadian history.

TORONTO, May 27, 2021 /CNW/ – The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation has received a transformational $10 million gift from Canadian gold mining company Agnico Eagle to fund revolutionary research and enhance capacity of the clinical trials program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Canada’s preeminent cancer centre and top five in the world.

The $10 million investment will support The Princess Margaret’s Grand Challenges competition, a program that awards grants to bold, innovative and high-impact projects that show promise of advancing cancer diagnoses and treatments to cure more patients and improve quality of life of those living with cancer.

“Agnico Eagle’s historic gift to The Princess Margaret supports the best and brightest researchers working to accelerate discovery and innovation in cancer care,” said Dr. Keith Stewart, Vice President Cancer, University Health Network.

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Mining executives ‘live in denial’: Barrick Gold’s Mark Bristow and Blackrock’s Evy Hambro mull ESG trends – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 10, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Bristow, a passionate advocate that mining projects are the best means
for impoverished countries to raise the skills of their workforce as it
can create high-paying jobs for engineers and geologists, said many
investors are ignoring the issue of world poverty.

There’s a “fundamental shift” underway in the equity markets, according to Evy Hambro, global head of thematic and sector based investing for Blackrock, considered one of the largest funds in the world with US$6.5 trillion under management.

Hambro, considered among the most influential investors in mining because of the size of his investment portfolio, was speaking about the number of investors whose decisions are increasingly guided or affected by a company’s environmental, social and governance record, also known as ESG.

“I think this is just an evolution that we’re going through … (and) I don’t think we’re anywhere near the end of it,” Hambro said.

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Commentary: Impact investment to play critical and growing role in mining sector – by Andrew Cheatle (Northern Miner – August 20, 2020)

Global mining news

Andrew Cheatle is a mining executive/director and geoscientist. He is passionate about the mining industry’s role in community and national development.

Impact investing has become a strong emergent trend over the last decade. It is a trend, however, that has largely avoided the mining industry, and the mining industry has largely avoided impact investors.

Is the mining industry now ready for impact investors and should impact investors invest in the mining industry?

Over the last two decades our mining, exploration, and minerals industry, has undertaken a positive seismic shift in its approach towards Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) practices.

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NEWS RELEASE: B2Gold Announces the Launch of its Namibian Rhino Gold Bar Campaign in North America to Support the Conservation and Protection of the Critically Endangered Black Rhinos (July 28, 2020)

VANCOUVER, BC, July 28, 2020 /CNW/ – B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) (“B2Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of its Namibian Rhino Gold Bar campaign in North America to help support the conservation and protection of the critically endangered black rhinos, and the community-based rhino rangers and trackers who protect the rhinos, in Namibia, Southern Africa. This announcement coincides with the International Ranger Federation’s (“IRF”) World Ranger Day, which takes place annually on July 31.

World Ranger Day was established on the 15th anniversary of the founding of the IRF and has been observed globally since 2007. The day, which is promoted through the IRF’s Thin Green Line Foundation and sanctioned and supported by global members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, recognizes and celebrates rangers who are at the forefront of conservation efforts around the world by protecting natural and cultural resources. It also commemorates rangers that are injured or killed in the line of duty.

Due to poaching, driven by the illegal rhino horn trade, over 1,000 wild rhinos are killed for their horns in Africa each year.

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Lake Shore Gold injects cash into Timmins food programs, hospital – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 7, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Lake Shore Gold is showing its support for food programs and frontline workers in the Timmins area.

On April 6, the mining company announced it’s donating $50,000 for meal and food programs, and thanked the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB), as well as the Timmins and South Porcupine food banks for their hard work.

Lake Shore Gold, a subsidiary of Pan American Silver, is also donating $10,000 to the Timmins and District Hospital Foundation to help with logistics for COVID-19.

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NEWS RELEASE: Vale Donates $100,000 to the Sudbury Food Bank’s Cash for Cans Campaign (March 30, 2020)

Sudbury, ON – Vale is responding to the Sudbury Food Bank’s call for financial support during the COVID-19 crisis, with a $100,000 donation to its Cash for Cans campaign. The donation is intended to support skyrocketing demand for food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Vale has a long history of support for the Sudbury Food Bank,” said Danica Pagnutti, Corporate & Indigenous Affairs Specialist for Vale’s Sudbury Operations. “The Sudbury Food Bank is seeing new clients every day during this crisis and we really wanted to support the growing demand for their important community service.”

The Sudbury Food Bank is a central distributor of food to 44 food banks and meal providers across the City of Greater Sudbury. These agencies currently support 8,000-8,500 people per month and that number is expected to grow exponentially with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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NEWS RELEASE: SHAFT BOTTOM BOYS SMASH GUINESS WORLD RECORD AT CREIGHTON MINE

SUDBURY, MARCH 9, 2020 – It was a rocking Sudbury Saturday morning in Creighton Mine’s 7200-level garage as the Shaft Bottom Boys brought the Guinness World Record for deepest underground concert back to Sudbury with a rousing Canadian content filled performance, 7200 feet underground.

The 47-minute set had Vale employees’ steel-toed boots tapping along to some rock and roll classics, including Canadian favourites the Tragically Hip and Blue Rodeo, and of course the band got their set going with an ode to Stompin’ Tom Connors ‘Sudbury Saturday Night’. The Shaft Bottom Boys even penned an original tune in honour of the event titled ‘Creighton Deep’ and handed out song lyrics to encourage the audience of 50 to participate.

Ripley’s Entertainment and official representatives of Guinness World Records along with members of Science North’s Board of Directors and Miners for Cancer were on hand to support the event, as funds raised will flow towards the two charities. Science North intends to use the funds to send an additional 1,000 underserved children across Northern Ontario to their Summer Science Camps.

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Inside mining companies’ struggle to gain traction in the era of climate change – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 7, 2020)

https://business.financialpost.com/

The focus on ESG is making life harder for mining companies

On Tuesday evening, Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive Mark Bristow stood inside downtown Toronto’s National Club, amid the dark wood panelling and paintings of pastoral scenes.

While a chef carved a rump roast under a heat lamp, dozens of mining executives, investment managers and foreign dignitaries gathered in the reception room to listen to Bristow — who has gained renown for discovering gold in Africa’s poorest countries, but also for his habit of lashing out at the rest of the mining sector for its shortcomings.

His talk at Barrick’s cocktail reception marked a finale of sorts to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual conference, which drew around 23,000 people to Toronto over the past week.

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Kirkland Lake Gold donates $500,000 to Timmins college – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 20, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Funds will support applied research at Northern College’s Innovation Hub

Kirkland Lake Gold has donated $500,000 to help advance applied research and development at Northern College in Timmins. The funds will be used to support the college’s new 24,000-square-foot applied research lab through its Innovation Hub.

Located in the school’s F wing, the space will include labs for R&D in manufacturing, prototyping, welding, carpentry, virtual reality, simulations, alternative energy, and mining exploration, along with additional classroom space. Company president-CEO Tony Makuch was in Timmins on Dec. 20 to make the presentation.

“We fully recognize the importance of advancing research and innovation in our region and are delighted to be supporting Northern College and its Innovation Hub in launching this important new initiative,” Makuch said in a Dec. 20 news release.

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NEWS RELEASE: The Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive & Kids Helping Kids Campaign Wraps Up Another Successful Year

SUDBURY, December 18, 2019 – Today the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive and Kids Helping Kids campaign wrapped up another successful year with the generous support of the Rainbow District School Board and over 250 local businesses.

“We are so grateful for each and every donation to the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive and Kids Helping Kids. The food and money collected through this campaign will once again provide one-quarter of the needs of the Sudbury Food Bank for the entire year,” said Mellaney Dahl, President of the Sudbury Food Bank.

The Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive is expected to collect more than 100 tons of food again this year. The annual campaign has collected more than 1,000 tons of food since it first began.

“It’s rare that a single individual can start a tradition like this in the workplace and in a community,” said Mike McCann, Head of Mining and Milling for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations “We’re proud to continue the tradition that Edgar started at our operations so many years ago.”

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Hospital receives $350,000 from Detour Mine – by Richa Bhosale (Timmins Daily Press – December 18, 2019)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Timmins and District Hospital struck gold Tuesday receiving $350,000 from a mining operation in Cochrane. Detour Gold donated $250,000 while Franco Nevada Corporation, which is Detour Gold’s business partner at the Cochrane-based mine, contributed an additional $100,000 to the Timmins hospital.

“These funds will support many different areas of the hospital, including the Northern School of Medicine Suite, the creation of a Sensory Cart in our emergency department, a pulmonary function test machine and emergency department renovations,” explained Jason Laneville, executive director of the Timmins and District Hospital Foundation (TADHF).

Laneville said Detour Gold has been supporting the hospital for many years now and they are one of their largest donors. With this cheque, Detour Gold marked its fifth-consecutive year bringing its total donations in that time to $1.8 million.

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Why Mining — Yes, Mining — Cares About Sustainability – by Andrew Winston (Harvard Business Review – April 24, 2018)

https://hbr.org/

In the early days of corporate environmentalism, the focus was mainly on big, heavy industries. Fossil fuels and mining had the most obvious environmental issues, as well as extensive regulatory regimes to navigate.

These days, however, sustainability discussions are more often focused on the actions of consumer product, retail, and tech brands. But it’s important to check in periodically with the big guns of environmental impact and see how they’re thinking about these issues.

Thus, it was with real interest that I recently found myself in Chile visiting the World Copper Congress, where I spoke at a dinner for 1,800 executives held by the Center for Copper and Mining Studies (CESCO). There, it became clear to me that the modern sustainability agenda — beyond regulatory compliance — is becoming critical to this sector, with both risks and opportunities stemming from environmental and social pressures.

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