Golden Star Resources, which operates the Wassa gold mine in Ghana, has published its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report.
According to a statement from the company, the report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (Core option), the United Nations Global Compact reporting requirements, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (“SASB”) Metals and Mining Sustainability Accounting Standard.
“In what was a transformative year for the company, Golden Star implemented, in 2020, a number of major initiatives and has made significant advancements in respect of the overall sustainability performance,” said the statement.
The report, the statement added, documents communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact and discusses the programmes that support the Sustainable Development Goals and the company’s progress towards alignment with the World Gold Council’s (WGC) Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs).
It also reveals work conducted on the Investor Mining and Safety Tailings Initiative and the WGC Conflict Free Gold Standard.
The statement said the key highlights of the report include Wassa being recognized as the safest mine in Ghana and receiving the best performer in occupational health and safety at the Ghana Mining Industry Awards. In addition, Golden Star continued its leading practice performance in malaria prevention, with 2020 recording the lowest case rates and days lost to malaria on company record.
The CEO of Golden Star, Andrew Wray, said, “In dealing with the challenges of an unprecedented global pandemic, we were able to demonstrate the benefits of our focus on operating responsibly and sustainably through our pandemic management controls as well as our local procurement initiatives – we were able to protect our workforce and local communities, ensure stability of our operations and maintain supply chains despite land borders being closed.
Not only were we able to continue operations on a reasonably uninterrupted basis, we were able to deliver significantly higher tax revenues to the Government of Ghana, which helped it to deal with the financial pressures of the pandemic.
We have always understood that value generation is inherently linked with sustainability. In 2020, we clearly enunciated the understanding that people, culture and leadership, sustainability, operational excellence, financial excellence and growth are equal drivers of success and must be pursued collectively in order to achieve our goals.
We know that good reporting is of limited value if it is not substantiated by good responsible performance. Throughout the organization, our teams have delivered a remarkable performance during 2020. The improvements in water recycling, new initiatives on diversity and inclusion, and the continued strengthening of our governance systems, all demonstrate our ongoing commitment to sustainability.”
