Endeavour Mining Corp (TSE:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF), an intermediate African gold producer, released its 2019 sustainability report on Wednesday that showed marked gains in worker safety and local representation.
The report is meant to highlight the company’s progress toward implementing the environment, social and governance (ESG) reporting framework established by the World Gold Council in September — a set of standards known as the Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs).
Endeavour made notable improvements year-over-year by various metrics, including a reduction in its injury frequency rate of 30% and in its lost-time injury rate of 44% compared to 2018. The year also passed without a significant environmental incident.
READ: Endeavour Mining reports strong first quarter, with gold output lifted and debt reduced
The report also examines representation within the company. Endeavour increased its percentage of West African General Managers to 75% in 2019, up from 25% in the previous year, and the representation of women in technical or supervisory roles rose to 11% from 5%.
All told, Endeavour distributed $627 million in economic value to its host countries, including $71 million in taxes and royalties, which represents 71% of 2019 revenue.
“Since I joined the company nearly four years ago, we have improved our performance, accountability and transparency in the way we approach ESG matters,” Endeavour Mining CEO Sébastien de Montessus said in a statement.
“We appreciate the increasing importance of providing our stakeholders with a greater degree of information on how we measure our impact, which is why we pledged to implement the World Gold Council’s ESG reporting framework.”
Endeavour is the largest gold miner in West Africa and a trusted government partner, Montessus added, so meeting the council’s standards is a responsibility it takes seriously.
“We are pleased with the progress we have made so far, and the steps taken to improve our business practices and reporting,” Montessus said. “In addition, to drive the right behaviors and actions across our business, we have augmented our short and long-term compensation schemes with clear and measurable ESG targets.
"We are conscious of this responsibility and are proud to support over 1,000 local businesses and to source 95% of our site workforce nationally, with a target of continuing the training and development of local talent into management roles.”
The RGMP’s were launched by the World Gold Council in September, providing companies with ten umbrella principles and 51 detailed principles covering key ESG themes. Member companies have three years to fully comply with the measures and will be required to earn external assurances of their conformance.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel