The COVID-19 crisis has put unprecedented pressure on employers and private sector businesses to survive and continue to provide productive employment. While it is important to maintain fiscal resilience, it must not come at the cost of an individual's health or wellbeing. Keep reading the blog posts to understand how ethical mining companies can be a game-changer for you.
Without an iota of doubt, ICMM members share an unwavering commitment to enhancing health and safety performance: adopting workplace good practices and critical controls to prevent fatalities, minimize injuries, and curtails occupational diseases, towards a goal of zero harm.
ICMM members have worked hard to guarantee that the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene have been implemented and enforced in nations where mining operations have persisted. This has had the effect of not only making workplaces safer but also ensuring that activities can continue. Make sure that you offer security to your gold mining process
workers.
Temperature screening on-site increased hygiene measures such as social distancing and reduced shift sizes, and providing 24/7 hotlines for employees to seek medical and wellbeing advice – including access to mental health services, given the crisis's heightened levels of anxiety and increased isolation of many workers – are among these measures. The ICMM as a whole, as well as individual members, place a premium on worker safety and well-being.
It has never been more crucial for the mining and metals industry to assist create local and national resilience through its efforts in the framework of COVID-19. ICMM members will continue to support local and national services as the global community responds to the COVID-19 epidemic, both through major donations to COVID-19 funds and the provision of practical assistance to people in need.
Ethical Mining: The Need of an Hour
Strong ESG performance means backing mining businesses that care about the environment and the stakeholders at their mine sites, including the local population and workers. The influence on the environment is a significant component of our evaluation. We look at how the corporation handles hazardous materials, tailings, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and recycling, among other things.
A sustainable mining business will also have good governance, as evidenced by anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies, as well as appropriate management incentives and equitable wealth distribution to the local community.
We make sure not to exploit nature to get the best results. Gold's end uses do not serve any of the Sustainable Development Goals, and its extraction can cause considerable environmental damage through mining and tailings disposal. Gold is mostly used for producing jewelry and hoarding riches, neither of which contributes significantly to Sustainable Development. Only around 10% of Gold production is earmarked for industrial use, and this can easily be supplied by Gold generated as a by-product of more socially important metals like Copper. We will not support businesses whose major goal is to extract gold. This is the core reason ethical mining companies have become game-changers.
Backing Global Goals
As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) gain traction, pressure is rising on the corporate sector to help achieve a wide range of development goals. The Mining Principles of the ICMM can help the mining and metals industry address climate change, poverty, and rising inequities.
Each SDG is linked to or influenced directly by the ICMM Mining Principles. Unlike many other industries, mining does not have a single SDG to which it is linked. Instead, operations have the unique ability to contribute to multiple goals at the same time. Mining goods are perhaps more important than ever in practically every part of life, with metals and minerals allowing the advances needed to create pathways to a greener, safer, and more sustainable future. Thus, it is prudent to rely on ethical mining companies only.