Golden Star receives award for good ESG practices
Golden Star Resources Limited has been awarded the inaugural Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Award at the 2021 Mines and Money Outstanding Achievement Awards
The criteria for the award focused on how well shortlisted companies have developed and implemented a long-term sustainable ESG strategy.
Golden Star attributed the award to their long term strategy which is enunciated by the vision of the company ‘To be a sustainable, diversified gold mining business which our stakeholders are proud to be associated with’.
As such, ESG is an integral component of the company’s strategy and a lever for business excellence.
The company said its approach to ESG focuses on risk management and the creation of lasting value for all stakeholders.
Golden Star has supported the multi-award winning Golden Star Oil Palm Plantation (GSOPP) for 15 years in order to promote sustainable and alternative livelihoods around the Wassa mine.
GSOPP has been able to empower marginalised people and also alleviate poverty by developing a commercial scale plantation on subsistence farms and former mined lands to promote agribusiness while using a zero- deforestation model.
Situated in the west-African oil palm belt (where oil palm is indigenous and endemic), GSOPP has developed over 1,700 hectares of plantation, employing over 700 people directly and benefitting more than 10 host communities and 2,000 people directly.
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Philipa Varris, EVP and Head of Sustainability reflected on the award recognition, saying: “On behalf of Golden Star, I’d like to thank our stakeholders for their support as any award for ESG would not have been possible without them”.
“I would also like to thank the whole team at Golden Star, in Ghana and the United Kingdom, Andrew Wray, our Chief Executive Officer and our Board of Directors for their leadership. This award is a testament to a companywide commitment to sustainability, and we are honoured to receive this recognition.”
Golden Star is an established gold mining company that owns and operates the Wassa underground mine in the Western Region of Ghana, West Africa.
Listed on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ghanaian Stock Exchange, Golden Star said it is focused on delivering strong margins and free cash flow from the Wassa mine.
As the winner of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada 2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award, Golden Star said it remains committed to leaving a positive and sustainable legacy in its areas of operation.
