New Gold Inc. (TSX: NGD) (NYSE: NGD) exceeded its objectives for energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions at its British Columbia based New Afton mine, according to its 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Report.
Published on Monday, the report includes information on safety, environmental, economic and other important issues important to the communities where it operates.
In 2022, New Gold made significant progress in various areas of sustainability. Firstly, the company successfully reduced the Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate from 1.73 in 2021 to 0.95, meeting its target of keeping TRIFR below 1.00.
The company also deployed four battery electric production vehicles (BEV) resulted in a reduction of 327 equivalent metric tons of carbon dioxide in GHG emissions and annualized energy savings of 1,009 megawatt hours. Furthermore, New Afton expects the delivery of two additional BEV haul trucks by July 2023.
Read more: NevGold finds high-grade gold underneath the surface at Nutmeg Mountain
Read more: NevGold assays high-grade silver at Ptarmigan, expands copper trend
New Gold committed to developing social closure plans
New Gold remains committed to developing the Beyond New Afton and Beyond Rainy River social closure plans through extensive community outreach and consultation efforts.
In 2022, New Afton engaged with Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and Skeetchestn Indian Band, hosting four open houses to foster dialogue. The information shared during these engagements was validated, and community members were given the opportunity to provide additional feedback.
Additionally, the company achieved compliance with the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Protocols and met the Canadian Dam Association requirements for all tailings management plans. New Afton received a self-assessed AAA rating on all five indicators under the Tailings Management Protocol and the Energy and GHG Management Protocol.
Rainy River achieved an AA score on its first external verification against the new TSM Climate Change Protocol.
Further, New Gold made significant progress in increasing its total Indigenous procurement spend at Rainy River and New Afton, with a 28 per cent rise to $248 million. The company continues to actively seek opportunities for local and Indigenous vendors to participate in its supply chain, and the annual spend is reported through the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism.
Recognizing the importance of responsible water management, New Gold updated its water objective to align more closely with the watersheds in which the company operates.
To support this initiative, specialized interdepartmental water teams were established at both New Afton and Rainy River sites. These teams are dedicated to water management and are working towards developing operational water balance models and setting water-related targets.
Lastly, New Gold launched its inaugural Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures report, which includes a comprehensive climate risk assessment and scenario analysis results. This report highlights the company’s commitment to transparently addressing climate-related risks and opportunities in its operations.
“The report is much more than a list of accomplishments—it furthers our commitments to exceptional ESG performance not because it is our duty, but because it is the right thing to do,” said Patrick Godin, President and CEO.
Rainy River partnered with Science North to bring and mining-based programming to First Nation communities. Image via New Gold.
NevGold creates new British Columbia subsidiary to help Ptarmigan project
Read more: NevGold forms B.C. subsidiary to focus on Ptarmigan
Read more: NevGold intercepts quartz veining on the surface of Nutmeg Mountain
NevGold Corp. (TSXV: NAU) (OTC: NAUFF) also has interests in British Columbia. It’s recently created a new British Columbia focused subsidiary to help push along its Ptarmigan project in the province’s southeast.
The company formed a numbered company, which it intends to take public before transferring the Ptarmigan project to it in exchange for 25 million shares. This came at the same time as an option agreement signed in late May which will include a series of exploration assets from Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSXV: EPL), including three lithium projects and two copper-gold-silver.
NevGold’s CEO, Brandon Bonifacio, stated that the newly created subsidiary offers an opportunity to access a portfolio of promising advanced exploration assets. These assets include high-grade silver-lead-zinc, copper, gold and lithium deposits located in British Columbia. Importantly, the financing for the subsidiary can be done independently, without affecting the capital structure and technical resources of NevGold.
Shares of New Gold rose 3.4 per cent to $1.44 on Monday the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares of NevGold were flat at $0.375 on Monday on the TSX Venture Exchange.
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