As a member of the World Gold Council (WGC), Agnico Eagle is committed to producing gold in a responsible manner. To underscore our commitment, we fully endorse the WGC's Responsible Gold Mining Principles ("RGMPs" or "the Principles").
Accordingly, we:
- develop and implement policies, systems, processes, and controls that conform with the Principles;
- disclose information to support external stakeholders understanding of how we achieve conformance;
- secure annual independent assurance review to strengthen credibility and stakeholders’ confidence in the process and conclusions; and,
- disclose instances or events that have given rise to a situation of non-conformance and the steps taken to remedy the situation.
The Principles apply to – and must be implemented at – all gold mining operations over which the Company has direct control, including Exploration and Closed Sites within 3 years of acquisition or commencement of activities.
2022 Activities
External Assurance
In accordance with the RGMPs implementation schedule, four (4) Agnico Eagle mines were visited and externally evaluated by a third-party assurance provider in 2022.
Meliadine Mine, which began commercial production in 2019, was externally assured in 2022 by EEM EHS Management. Fosterville, Macassa and Detour Lake Mines were assured in 2022 by Perspective Consulting Inc. The third-party assurance providers found all four (4) mines to be in full conformance with the RGMPs as defined by the "Year 3" assurance requirements set out in the Assurance Framework for the Responsible Gold Mining Principles (available here).
Conformance with the RGMPs
To support the monitoring of conformance with the RGMPs at all Agnico Eagle mines, including ones not scheduled for external assurance in any given year, Agnico Eagle uses a self-assessment tool to evaluate the Company's policies, internal systems, processes, controls and performance against all ten Principles.
In 2022, the self-assessment was done by internal senior subject matter experts at both a corporate level and at the six (6) mines that had been externally audited in 2021: Kittilä, Meadowbank, LaRonde, Goldex, Pinos Altos and La India. The findings of the self-assessment were then assured by by EEM EHS Management.
Based on the monitoring procedures performed both internally and externally, Agnico Eagle conformed with the Responsible Gold Mining Principles for the year 2022.
Moving forward
In 2023, we will take the opportunity to reinforce the alignment with external standards including the RGMPs by updating our Risk Monitoring and Management System (RMMS). Amongst other initiatives, we plan to finalize the development of a Chance Finds process and continue to keep up to date our risk management and training processes. We will also substantiate RGMPs implementation evaluation at exploration and closed sites. We finally plan to continue to reinforce our processes by closely following the development of new external requirements and improving our practices as required in a timely matter.
Agnico Eagle's 2022 Annual Report on the implementation of the RGMPs and independent assurance reports for can be view here.
For more information on RGMPs, click here.