PR Newswire
TORONTO
,
April 30, 2021
/PRNewswire/ –
Golden Star Resources Ltd.
(NYSE American: GSS) (TSX: GSC) (GSE: GSR) (“Golden Star” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has published its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report. 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 Sustainbility Accounting Standard. The report and an ESG investor presentation are available on the Company’s website at:
http://www.gsr.com/responsibility/default.aspx
2020 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
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. The Corporate Responsibility Report documents our Communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact and discusses the programs that support the Sustainable Development Goals and our progress towards alignment with the World Gold Council (“WGC”) Responsible Gold Mining Principles (“RGMPs”). The report also documents work conducted on the Investor Mining and Safety Tailings Initiative and the WGC Conflict Free Gold Standard. Key highlights of the report include:
- Leading practices in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in minimal impact to production and, more importantly, no lives lost to COVID-19 and limited serious health outcomes across the workforce.
-
Sustained improvement in injury frequency rates across the Company was marred by a fatal incident at Prestea in
March 2020
. -
Wassa was recognized as the safest mine in
Ghana
, receiving the Best Performer in occupational health and safety at the Ghana Mining Industry Awards. -
Golden Star
continues its leading practice performance in malaria prevention, with 2020 recording the lowest case rates and days lost to malaria on Company record. - The Company achieved 100% conformance with its statutory monitoring program requirements and above 99% alignment to relevant quality standards.
-
Consistent with our Inclusion and Diversity Policy launched in
March 2020
, the Company maintained its high rates of local content, with 99% of the workforce in
Ghana
being Ghanaian nationals and 59% of the workforce hailing from local host communities. -
Female representation on the Company’s Board of Directors and senior management remained high, with
Golden Star
recognized in the Women Lead Here benchmark of executive gender diversity for the second year running. The gender diversity across all levels increased to 8%. -
In 2020, the Company completed the transition to a new energy composition mix at Wassa, which improves energy supply security and provides the opportunity to flatten our energy load consumption profile. A new Genser Energy Ghana natural gas power plant provides a reliable base power supply that enables the Company to explore renewable energy options, while delivering cost savings of
$8 million
over the first five years. -
Construction of a first of its type, paste backfill plant in
Ghana
enables the reuse of process tailings for underground mine support. This facilitates improved safety outcomes and reduces volume quantities stored on the tailings storage facilities, thus enabling overall risk reduction. -
The major upgrade of our underground electrical supply system, using a method of cable lowering not previously used before in
Africa
, has been a testament to our workforce development programs and the benefit of our long running local content initiatives.
Andrew Wray
, Chief Executive Officer of
Golden Star
, commented:
“In dealing with the challenges of an unprecendented 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.”
For further information, please visit
www.gsr.com
Company Profile:
Golden Star
is an established gold mining company that owns and operates the Wassa underground mine in the Western Region of
Ghana
,
West Africa
. Listed on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ghanaian Stock Exchange,
Golden Star
is focused on delivering strong margins and free cash flow from the Wassa mine. As the winner of the Prospectors & Developers Association of
Canada
2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award,
Golden Star
remains committed to leaving a positive and sustainable legacy in its areas of operation.
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SOURCE Golden Star Resources Ltd.
