Manage, mitigate, and minimise the environmental impacts
Montage Gold recognises that gold mining and its associated processes have an impact on the natural environment throughout the whole mining life cycle and value chain which can result in damage to ecosystems, as well as potential disruption, to our stakeholders and our host communities.
Montage Gold seeks to actively manage, mitigate, and minimise the environmental impacts of our operation, and we are committed to openly communicate our efforts and achievements. Our approach is centred on a self-imposed obligation to continually improve our environmental performance and promote sustainable development in the region where we operate. To achieve this, we aim to integrate environmental issues into our core decision making and business strategies.
Climate
Climate change is one of the greatest risks facing the world today and requires committed and collaborative action. Energy is a critical input for our mining and construction operations, representing a significant business cost and a major source of our greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.
At Montage, we recognise the increasing awareness of climate change within our industry and the need to participate in solutions that tackle its long-term impacts, including where feasible, the reduction of GHG emissions and increased use of renewable energy sources.
Montage has incorporated GHG emissions best-practices from the onset of project activities to avoid adverse impacts on human health and the environment, whilst promoting more sustainable use of resources, including energy and water. We are committed to reporting of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from the onset, in line with Global Reporting Initiative standards, and furthermore, we are engaging proactively with our suppliers on their response to climate change.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is crucial for healthy ecosystems which underpin human prosperity and success. Our business and surrounding communities rely on these ecosystems for food security, to purify water, protect health and regulate the climate.
At Montage, we are acutely aware of our responsibility to our host communities and countries to minimise our environmental impacts and to anticipate the successful closure of our mines at the end of their lives from both a social and environmental perspective
Montage has developed a biodiversity strategy which is based on biodiversity-related business risks and opportunities facing the Company. Effective and sustainable management of water, energy, and resources, and our approach to minimising operational impacts on biodiversity are core to our approach to minimising, or where possible eliminating our impact throughout the life of the project as well as following its closure.
Water
Water is a shared and vital resource; access to clean water is a fundamental human right. Nevertheless, gold production requires relatively large volumes of water for ore processing, tailings deposition and dust suppression.
Responsible water stewardship is essential for operational sustainability, minimising environmental impact and safeguarding host communities, thereby maintaining our license to operate. Collaboration with other watershed users is crucial to maintaining long-term water resilience. Understanding and managing our water risks forms part of our central risk management framework. We strive to ensure the long-term sustainability of water resources for our host communities, while minimising the disturbance caused by necessary water management activities.
Tailings
Montage Gold’s approach to tailings management is grounded in the principle of Zero Harm. We are committed to a transparent approach to tailings managements by publishing details on our TSF in line with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).
Our TSF at Koné is conservatively designed by internationally reputable design consultants, and characterized by low embankment heights. The mine plan also supports using an in-pit tailings solution later in the assets life, thereby reducing the total mine footprint by re-utilising mining infrastructure for tailings disposal.
We take TSF safety seriously, and plant to conduct regular multi-layered internal and external audits to monitor, measuring and evaluating the effectiveness and safety of our TSFs.
Closure
Responsible mine closure can transform land that was disturbed by mining activities into opportunities for positive and sustainable community development.
At Montage, we have ensured that closure planning is embedded throughout the life cycle of the mine. We aim to restore the land we have occupied to an economically-viable end land use, in consultation with our stakeholders, and ensure that local water quantity and quality are safeguarded for future generations. We also consider avenues to best eliminate any health and safety concerns that communities could be exposed to.