We all know someone who is a whiz in the kitchen. They can cook, bake and create delicious meals, while the rest of us wonder why our cake didn’t rise in the oven. What we need are recipes. Tried and true directions for getting the results we want. And mining is no different.
At Eldorado we don’t just rely on our own mining expertise and experience, we adhere to industry guidelines and frameworks to help our operations to run safely, smoothly and successfully.
Here are a few of the recipes we follow for mining success:
The Conflict-Free Gold Standard 
Like the diamond industry did with the Kimberley Process, the gold industry is doing its part to stamp out conflict along the supply chain. Developed by the World Gold Council, the Conflict-Free Gold Standard provides assurance that our gold was not extracted in a way that caused, supported or benefited unlawful armed conflict, or contributed to any human rights abuses or breaches of international humanitarian law.
OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems
Employee safety is our number one priority. We implement OHSAS 18001 at our sites to reduce the potential for accidents, aid legal compliance and improve overall performance. We attribute much of our improved safety performance in 2015 and our strengthened safety culture to the establishment of these systems
G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines
Following the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines helps us make our annual sustainability report reliable, relevant and standardised. The G4 Guidelines are the most common sustainability reporting framework in the world, and enable us to disclose our most critical impacts – be they positive or negative – on the environment, society and the economy.
International Cyanide Management Code
Miners have been using cyanide to separate gold and silver particles from ore for over 120 years. We follow the International Cyanide Management Code to implement best-practices at our sites that use cyanide in the gold recovery process. This helps to protect our employees and the environment.
Towards Sustainable Mining
We mine gold in a socially, economically and environmentally responsible way in accordance with the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining framework. The framework provides a set of tools for engaging with communities, implementing world-leading environmental practices, and protecting to the safety and health of employees and surrounding communities.
ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems
Protecting the environment is part of our operating philosophy and we follow ISO 14001 to make sure we are continuously measuring and monitoring the environments surrounding our mine sites. This allows us to improve our environmental performance, by setting and achieving environmental goals.
Carbon Disclosure Project
We calculate and report our energy use and emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s climate change program, and in 2015 we began reporting our water use. Tracking this data allows us to set targets for reducing energy and water consumption, and to become more efficient.
We use these frameworks as a guide for optimum productivity, safety and responsibility – it’s our recipe for success.
Visit our 2015 Year in Review report for more information on our sustainability practices and the global frameworks we follow.
We’ve also just published our 2015 Conflict-Free Gold report. Find out what the conflict-free gold standard is and why it’s important in our recent blog post.