In September 2019, the World Gold Council launched the Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs), a comprehensive framework that sets out clear expectations for consumers, investors and the downstream gold supply chain as to what constitutes responsible gold mining. Conformance with the Principles involves public reporting and independent assurance.
The World Gold Council's objective is for the Principles to be recognised as constituting a set of best practice benchmarks by stakeholders and clearly set out the material ESG (environmental, social, governance) considerations associated with large-scale gold mining. To achieve this, the Principles went through a rigorous consultation process including two phases of external consultation involving almost 300 organisations and experts.
Earlier this year, at both the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town and the Annual Convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, we caught up with stakeholders, many of whom provided input on the Principles during the consultation process, to hear their thoughts about the end result, and how they expect them to strengthen the gold industry’s ESG credentials.
