London – 13 September 2019: Women in Mining UK (WIM) welcomes the World Gold Council’s launch of its Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs) and its clear commitment to the advancement of women in the workplace and socio-economic empowerment of women in mine-impacted communities.
The RGMPs address key environmental, social and governance issues for the gold mining sector and set out explicit guidelines for the industry and clear expectations for consumers, investors, and the downstream gold supply chain as to what constitutes responsible gold mining. Companies implementing the RGMPs will be required to obtain third-party external assurance. The World Gold Council currently has 26 members with operations in over 45 countries.
Alex Buck, WIM’s Managing Director, commented, “This is a historic step for the mining industry. It is the first time a framework of responsible mining principles explicitly focuses on the role of women within the industry and acknowledges the need for more action to improve the representation and empowerment of women, both in the workplace as well as the communities surrounding mining operations.
The World Gold Council has gone many steps beyond other industry frameworks and guidelines on gender diversity to show how the principles are to be implemented, measured and maintained, with external assurance required. WIM applauds the Council’s industry leadership on progressing women in mining.”
Principles 6.5 and 6.6 focus on the deliberate actions gold mining companies can take to identify and resolve barriers to the advancement and fair treatment of women in the workplace as well as ensuring women in mine-impacted communities are also socio-economically empowered through employment, supply chain, training and community investment programmes.
Carole Cable, Chair of WIM, added, “The gold industry, indeed the mining industry as a whole, must continue to give greater attention to the employment of and engagement with women, who are a key source of human capital and vital to the mining industry’s future. These Responsible Gold Mining Principles clearly demonstrate a commitment to gender diversity, backed up by practical actions mining companies can take to ensure we continue to increase the industry’s employment, retention and promotion of women in mining.”
The Council’s Principles include suggestions for companies to increase women’s contribution to mining through proactive recruitment and advancement; consultation with external groups, such as WIM, and engagement with female employees in order to identify barriers to women’s employment and/or advancement within the company; the creation of a Women in Mining taskforce and mentoring schemes; and monitoring the pattern of beneficiaries of corporate- and site-level training, enterprise development and social investment projects to ensure that women are adequately represented. The Principles also stipulate how these tactics can be actioned and honed.
Enquiries:
Alex Buck
WIM Managing Director
T: +44 7932 740 452