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| Corporate Social Responsibility
Crew Gold is known in the locations it operates for exceeding government expectations on support for local people, building up an excellent infrastructure for the local communities for when the mines eventually close, and for the maintenance and sustainability of the environment. Corporate Social ResponsibilityIn each place we work conditions are different – in terms of both the people and the environment. We have invested our money, our skills and our philosophy of sharing in each of these locations in a manner that enhances living standards for communities and the relationships between communities and Crew. One common feature of all our CSR investments is the fostering of a culture that values and rewards exemplary ethical standards, personal and corporate integrity and respect for others’ views and needs LEFA – projects for sustaining the surrounding communities Guinea is an economically disadvantaged country and LEFA’s CSR program is geared to improving the living and education standards in each of the villages surrounding the mine site. For this reason, the Company has taken efforts to treat each village fairly and ensure inclusion in the decision-making processes that relate to their development. A community liaison assistant has been appointed in each village and LEFA Management plans to build a community liaison office in the villages of Siguirini, Lero, Carrefour, Amina, Fontou and Banora. There is an expectation from the Guinean government that the mine will provide benefits to Guinea and the surrounding communities and LEFA has committed itself to return more than 0.4% of its revenue to local communities for local infrastructure projects. The recent US$ 200 million CIP expansion project carried out at LEFA necessitated revamping of the administration buildings and accommodation camp at Fayalala. Management envisions that these facilities will remain after mine closure and site rehabilitation. As a result of the expansion project employment has increased dramatically from the original 300 permanent to over 1,200 current employees. The management at LEFA has not restricted its involvement with the local communities to employment opportunities and a future legacy of infrastructure. This year management financed two members of the local community to participate in the annual pilgrimage in Mecca and, on an ongoing basis, assistance is provided to each of the villages during the Tabeski feast and other significant Islamic holidays. Management also stepped in during the two national strikes in early 2007 that resulted in the temporary suspension of operations. The mine distributed food through the local mosques to those people who needed immediate relief as a result of the strikes. More recently, Management intervened when widespread fire broke out in the nearby Lero Village. The communication distributed by the General Manager of LEFA on the impact of the fire highlights the involvement of Crew and its willingness to assist the local community in emergency situations:
Current projects
Projects for sustainable development The sustainability of our development work is crucial in a country with unfavorable socio-economic conditions like those found in Guinea. For this reason, when Crew built the Moussa Traore Memorial Clinic in Lero, we decided that the clinic had to have a health-education facility to encourage long-term wellness in the community. Health education is backed up by Management’s collaboration with foundations such as the Helen Keller Foundation, which is teaching nutritional health to LEFA staff and residents of the surrounding communities. Maco Mine – supporting people and their environment A community relations office has been set up and staffed as a center for managing the important human-relations and community-support aspects of the work at Maco. Preferential employment opportunities are granted to the residents of the local villages (barangays) and the surrounding municipalities; further financial support takes the form of ongoing patronage of the commercial establishments found in nearby Tagum City. The Company’s long-term maintenance work of the 26-km Masara-Mawab provincial road that connects the Maco site to the national highway has boosted local commerce and industry and reduced travel time for the communities and barangays through which the road passes. Where barangay residents have been affected by mine development they have been relocated to new residences in town. The Company provided the transportation for personal belongings, the hauling of construction materials, and assistance with the carpentry work for the new houses. The Company’s medical staff and facilities for common medical needs are freely available to local residents and the dependants of employees. Its ambulances and other vehicles are made available to non-employees who require emergency medical treatment at hospitals in Tagum City. Environment and Education Members of the barangays have been recruited in Crew’s Information and Education Campaign to learn about sound waste management practices, environmental quality management, and reforestation. The last of these is a national priority in the Philippines and Crew has been an active promoter of the Green Philippine Project and other environment-nurturing projects of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. A massive award-winning reforestation program within the mining area itself has been undertaken alongside the company’s support of government programs. The qualified managers and foresters of the Environmental Management Office minimize any possible adverse environmental impacts of exploration and mine development activities. The office’s rules on environmental management are obligatory for all personnel and contractors. Water-quality monitoring of the major creeks draining the project area is continuous. Our efforts towards responsible mining and environmental protection have proved highly effective. Programs include:
Nalunaq Gold Mine – providing training in new skills for local people Much of the focus of Crew’s CSR at Nalunaq Gold Mine (NGM) in southern Greenland is training in new skills. Forty percent of the workforce come from the nearby towns and are employed as miners, equipment operators, tradesmen and caterers. The local miners are trained on site for their jobs as the skills they require are not available locally. Jobs at the mine are in demand as the pay scale is higher than elsewhere. Since the southern Greenland economy is seasonally based and local staff are not accustomed to working a full-time schedule that takes them away from their families, retaining trained personnel is a challenge. To offset this, NGM management has modified the work schedule to reduce the length of time away from home. As a site policy, permission has been given for overnight visits by family members. Day visits to site via boat are also permitted. As the NGM site is geographically isolated, no infrastructure will remain after mine closure. The closure plan stipulates that all materials, equipment and installations will be cleared and dams and bridges over rivers will be dismantled and removed. The landscape contour of the road trace, material feeding points and storage areas must be levelled out to match the surrounding terrain to the widest extent possible. To remove some of the mystery from ”what happens at a mine site”, in November 2006 NGM granted permission for Greenlandic television to film a short documentary on one local Greenlandic miner and how he spends a typical day. The documentary was very well received and has been broadcast country wide several times. Nugget Pond – easing the drought in the local economy Crew Gold’s acquisition of Nugget Pond in Newfoundland in October 2006 provided not only a solution to the processing of ore from Nalunaq Gold Mine in southern Greenland but immediate relief to the local economy as well. Newfoundland has been experiencing an economic drought since 2005, which meant that the re-opening of the facility has breathed life back into the part of the peninsula where Nugget Pond is located. At the same time, the re-opening has made Newfoundland mining history as being the first mining project to receive ore from outside of Newfoundland for processing. Mining is the resource base of the area’s economy and the continuation of any mining or processing project is warmly welcomed. The workforce at the Nugget Pond Facility is made up of 95% locally trained and experienced professionals. These workers were retained from the previous operators. Having such a well qualified workforce has made the rejuvenation of the mill occur smoothly and has ensured that Crew Gold can fulfill its social responsibilities in a tangible way. In the short time that the company has been running Nugget Pond it has set up an open channel of communication with the nearby town, especially with regards to the emergency response plan. Local representatives are on the contact list in the event of an emergency that may affect the town. Contact has been made with the organizers of worthy projects and charitable groups to establish ways in which Crew Gold can maximize its contribution to the social well being of the nearby town of Snook’s Arm and the surrounding communities. Fighting fires together One example of our partnering with the local people is the use of the La Scie Fire Department as first responders and trainers for on-site mill response training. Since this partnership was formed, Nugget Pond has been provided with up-to-date training and response and Crew Management has helped purchase a new fire truck for the fire department at nearby La Scie. The outcome of this collaboration is excellent safety response and emergency action for the facility itself and all surrounding communities.
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