On April 19-20, the 13th Mining and Geological forum MINEX Kazakhstan was held in the capital. The theme of the forum was “Subsoil use for benefit of national development”. One of the key focuses of the forum were the issues of ESG, green transformation and other initiatives to protect the environment, promote sustainable development at mining and metallurgical enterprises. This year the forum broke long-standing records, the forum was attended by 700 people and 90 companies from 30 countries.
RG Gold, the company developing the North and South Raygorodok gold deposits in the Akmola region shared its sustainable development strategy and the experience of implementing ESG principles at a gold mine.
“Industrial enterprises are not only about big business, but also about great responsibility before mineral resource potential and people who chose to work at the enterprise or simply live in the same city and witness the success of the enterprise from the first-person perspective. It is this responsibility that has become the driving force for us to implement the principles of sustainable development in RG Gold, in accordance not only with local but also international standards. Thus, we have identified 11 priority sustainable development goals for ourselves, out of 17 UN global SDGs,” – noted Lawrence Rossouw, the CEO of the Company.
In 2022, RG Gold launched a new mining and metallurgical complex with a capacity of up to five million tons of ore per year. The Company followed the principle of zero emissions from design stage of MMC. Today, the company neutralizes cyanide in accordance with international requirements.
In addition, the company shared information about the launching of landscaping project together with the Research center of Narxoz University. The Company will plant trees and shrubs around the mine this year to reduce the dust impact at the deposit through the concept of phytodedusting.
As to corporate governance, RG Gold adheres to the principle of transparency in everything: procurement, hiring of staff, making any decisions in accordance with the corporate values of the company, financial monitoring, verification of counterparties before establishing relations with them. The CEO meets with all employees on a quarterly basis. There is a “hotline” in the enterprise through which the employees can report on violation of the company’s values, the code of ethics.
The company pays special attention to social projects. A set of measures for interaction with the local population is implemented annually, and a contribution is made to development and improvement of the region.
The portfolio of social initiatives of RG Gold includes both solutions to small rural problems and extremely important issues for residents, such as construction of water tower, major repairs to and material and technical support of schools, construction of playgrounds and sports grounds, maintenance of the highway, installation of a mobile station, allocation of educational grants, employment. When hiring staff, preference is given to the local population and the number of workers from settlements nearby to the deposit is growing everyday. The Company also contributes to the development of SMEs in the region.
Following the principles of sustainable development, the company’s continuous contribution to fulfilling the potential of the once small Raygorodok deposit leads to remarkable development of both the mining industry of the country and well-being of the entire operations area.
