 |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
|
Corporate Responsibility
Highlights
Sustainability Principles and Corporate Commitment
Corporate Governance
Environment
Health and Safety
Community
Stakeholder Engagement
Economic Contribution
Community Investment And Social Programs
Case Studies and Photo Gallery
Presentation/Reports
Stakeholder Feedback
| |
CommunityRed Back recognizes its responsibility to provide lasting benefits to local communities where we work by supporting sustainable initiatives to develop their social, economic, and institutional fabric. We work consultatively with community partners to ensure that our support matches their priorities throughout the life cycle of our mining projects. In addition, the company actively seeks to maximize employment and procurement opportunities for local communities. Stakeholder EngagementWe identify and engage with our diverse stakeholders through a continual process of stakeholder mappingand consultation.
Economic ContributionRed Back's operations contribute to the economic development and wealth of host communities and countries through the following means:
Leveraging Opportunities Creating and further developing local employment and procurement opportuni¬ties contributes to Red Back's ability to secure and maintain its "social license.- Economic diversification can also increase post-closure community viability. Red Back has established a long-term partnership with the Lundin for Africa Founda¬tion to assist with the design and management of Red Back's community devel¬opment and investment programs. These are driven by our desire to improve the livelihoods of people in our host communities. We take care to support community investment projects that contribute to long-term sustainable development and do not create dependency. To this end, sites are required to have a process to enable local communities to participate in the development of our community investment strategies and in the associated monitoring of program effectiveness. We aim to deliver community investment programs in partnership with communities, non-government organizations and government agencies wherever possible. Red Back is also planning to make an investment in the Lundin West Africa SME Fund. This Fund targets the underserved small and medium sized enterprises (in the non-primary agri-business sector, but also in the extractive supply chain), in Ghana, Mauritania, and Cote d'Ivoire. Community Investment And Social ProgramsThere are millions of people in the countries where we work who still lack access to clean water, food, health care, housing and education. We recognize our responsibility to assist our host communities and countries in improving quality of life in areas where we have the capacity and ability to do so. We also recognize that our operations can have significant economic, social and environmental impacts on local communities throughout the life cycle of our mining projects. Our community relations staff works closely with host communities to create and implement integrated development programs that take into account local issues, concerns and needs. Recognizing that our mines may operate in some commu¬nities for 20 years or more, we focus on long-term sustainable development. One of the ways we focus on sustainable development in our host communi¬ties is by contributing to the construction and maintenance of local infrastruc¬ture and services. During previous years, our contributions in the Chirano area included providing numerous villages with groundwater wells and hand pumps; upgrading and maintaining access roads from the main highway to various villages; connecting the largest local villages (about 3,000 inhabitants) to the electric grid; and enabling cell phone access to the local area. Our focus in 2009 was on school and health facility construction, along with water, power, and road development and maintenance. We also developed and will continue to invest in the Tano-Suraw Agribusiness Growth Initiative, and maintain our on-going malaria vector control program. For Mauritania, we are planning to invest and support the construction and equipping of an Emergency Ward at Nouakchott National Hospital in Mauritania, conduct a detailed feasibility study with partners, aimed at developing a School of Mines (see also Economic Responsibility section in this report), and provide community Infra-structure in local communities. Local Procurement Red Back has a policy of giving preference to local businesses, provided they meet minimum quality and cost requirements. Maximizing local content and partnerships, especially for operations based in remote areas, can be chal¬lenging, costly and require significant forward planning. Local suppliers may be hampered by more limited access to finance, technology, information, skills and challenging small business regulatory environment. At the same time, local suppliers are expected to meet international social, environmental and quality standards commonly used in the global mining sector supply chain. Higher Education In addition to supporting capacity building initiatives in our projects' host countries, Red Back has also made a significant financial contribution to the Vancouver-based University of British Columbia's Earth Systems Science Build¬ing (ESSB), which is currently under construction. UBC's Earth Systems Science Building will feature state-of-the-art facilities for research into mineral explora¬tion and sustainable mining practices, and expanded educational facilities to help tackle a shortage of geosciences professionals. Any unspent construction funds (pro rata to Red Back's contribution) are earmarked for scholarships to students from Ghana and Mauritania. Labour And Human RightsLocal Hiring Recruiting locally creates positive economic impacts in countries and communi¬ties which are hosting our operations. A diverse workforce also encourages cre¬ativity and innovation. We draw our workforce from many countries around the world, but are drawn primarily from the host countries where we operate. As a result, our workforce is very diverse in terms of national and ethnic backgrounds. As a matter of policy and practice, we are also committed to the "localization- of our workforce. Specific initiatives being developed to overcome challenges associated with the remote location of our operations and lack of a mining-related skill base include Red Back's "Mauritanization Program- that targets a reduction in the percentage of expatriate employees from 22% in 2008 to 6% in 2012. Human Rights Red Back believes that the dignity of every human being must be protected. We are committed fully to demonstrating respect and creating an atmosphere of tolerance for our employees, contractors, neighbors, local communities and host governments. We believe this is the foundation of human rights. To guide us in our efforts, we recognize and seek to implement the principles found in the United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights. As stated in the Declaration, "everyone has the right to a standard of living ad¬equate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services- and "every¬one has the right to education.- Red Back makes an active and positive con¬tribution to human rights through programs that provide access to education, clean water and health services for the communities neighboring our mines. All our employees are to be treated with respect and dignity. We are commit¬ted to providing equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination for all of our employees and contractors. There were no reported incidents of discrimination, forced or child labor practices at our operations. Red Back is supportive of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which provides guidance to companies in maintaining the safety and security of their operations within an operating framework that ensures respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. |
| Home Operations Investors News Corporate Responsibility QwikReport Contact |  |
| |