London – 20 October 2021: Women in Mining UK 2021 Summer Internship at the World Gold Council
Written by: Alex Comaniciu
I applied to be an intern for the World Gold Council via Women in Mining UK’s internship programme… and I got accepted!
The World Gold Council is a global organisation determined to encourage a consistent global standard on issues like ESG and reinforces integrity and transparency across the gold sector. The ESG team at WGC is quite dynamic and was a great source of knowledge and professional advice.
I had the pleasure to work on the value distribution report. My first task was to review ICMM, World Bank, McKinsey & Company, and WGC member companies’ reports on sustainability and economic impact and use them to make a case of how the industry brings value to the communities, regions and countries where they operate. The task was a good way for me to learn more about how to efficiently find information and how to think critically about data. My second (and biggest) task during my internship was the cleaning and quality assurance of data that came from WGC member companies.
Another project I worked on was about artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and their interaction with large mining companies. As I had been previously interested in this topic, it was exciting to see a different point of view on the matter. I had the chance to attend interviews with company representatives and government officials and learned about the commitment to formalise and aid ASM works. My role was to review company data and reports to find supporting information regarding the industry’s views on ASM activities. This work made me more determined to stay in the mining industry and find ways to work on this topic later on.
I would like to thank WIM UK and the World Gold Council for this opportunity to better understand the gold mining sector (operationally, financially, and ESG-wise), Hannah Brandstaetter (ESG Programme Director) for being a great internship coordinator and mentor, John Mulligan (Director, Market Relations & Climate Change Lead) for making me more interested in a side of mining I was not aware of beforehand, Terry Heymann (CFO) for being a great source of feedback during the internship, and Peter Sinclair and Edward Bickham for their patience and guidance during my internship. When I decided to apply for this internship, I knew I wanted to focus my career on the gold sector but I was unsure what skills I needed to focus on but now I have a better idea of what I want to do and how to put my skills to work.