TORONTO, April 30, 2021 /CNW/ - Golden Star Resources
Ltd. (NYSE American: GSS) (TSX: GSC) (GSE: GSR) ("Golden Star"
or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has published its
2020 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report has been prepared
in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (Core
option), the United Nations Global Compact reporting requirements
and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board's
("SASB") Metals and Mining Sustainbility Accounting Standard.
The report and an ESG investor presentation are available on the
Company's website at:
http://www.gsr.com/responsibility/default.aspx
2020 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
In what was a transformative year for the Company, Golden Star implemented, in 2020, a number
of major initiatives and has made significant advancements in
respect of the overall sustainability performance. The Corporate
Responsibility Report documents our Communication on Progress to
the UN Global Compact and discusses the programs that support the
Sustainable Development Goals and our progress towards alignment
with the World Gold Council ("WGC") Responsible Gold Mining
Principles ("RGMPs"). The report also documents work conducted on
the Investor Mining and Safety Tailings Initiative and the WGC
Conflict Free Gold Standard. Key highlights of the report
include:
- Leading practices in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic
resulted in minimal impact to production and, more importantly, no
lives lost to COVID-19 and limited serious health outcomes across
the workforce.
- Sustained improvement in injury frequency rates across the
Company was marred by a fatal incident at Prestea in March 2020.
- Wassa was recognized as the safest mine in Ghana, receiving the Best Performer in
occupational health and safety at the Ghana Mining Industry
Awards.
- Golden Star continues its
leading practice performance in malaria prevention, with 2020
recording the lowest case rates and days lost to malaria on Company
record.
- The Company achieved 100% conformance with its statutory
monitoring program requirements and above 99% alignment to relevant
quality standards.
- Consistent with our Inclusion and Diversity Policy launched in
March 2020, the Company maintained
its high rates of local content, with 99% of the workforce in
Ghana being Ghanaian nationals and
59% of the workforce hailing from local host communities.
- Female representation on the Company's Board
of Directors and senior management remained high, with
Golden Star recognized in the Women
Lead Here benchmark of executive gender diversity for the second
year running. The gender diversity across all levels increased to
8%.
- In 2020, the Company completed the transition to a new energy
composition mix at Wassa, which improves energy supply security and
provides the opportunity to flatten our energy load consumption
profile. A new Genser Energy Ghana natural gas power plant provides
a reliable base power supply that enables the Company to explore
renewable energy options, while delivering cost savings of
$8 million over the first five
years.
- Construction of a first of its type, paste backfill plant in
Ghana enables the reuse of process
tailings for underground mine support. This facilitates improved
safety outcomes and reduces volume quantities stored on the
tailings storage facilities, thus enabling overall risk
reduction.
- The major upgrade of our underground electrical supply system,
using a method of cable lowering not previously used before in
Africa, has been a testament to
our workforce development programs and the benefit of our long
running local content initiatives.
Andrew Wray, Chief Executive
Officer of Golden Star,
commented:
"In dealing with the challenges of an unprecendented global
pandemic, we were able to demonstrate the benefits of our focus on
operating responsibly and sustainably through our pandemic
management controls as well as our local procurement initiatives –
we were able to protect our workforce and local communities, ensure
stability of our operations and maintain supply chains despite land
borders being closed. Not only were we able to continue operations
on a reasonably uninterrupted basis, we were able to deliver
significantly higher tax revenues to the Government of Ghana which helped it to deal with the
financial pressures of the pandemic.
We have always understood that value generation is inherently
linked with sustainability. In 2020, we clearly enunciated the
understanding that people, culture and leadership, sustainability,
operational excellence, financial excellence and growth are equal
drivers of success and must be pursued collectively in order to
achieve our goals.
We know that good reporting is of limited value if it is not
substantiated by good responsible performance. Throughout the
organization, our teams have delivered a remarkable performance
during 2020. The improvements in water recycling, new initiatives
on diversity and inclusion, and the continued strengthening of our
governance systems, all demonstrate our ongoing commitment to
sustainability."
For further information, please visit
www.gsr.com
Company Profile:
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 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 remains committed to leaving a positive and sustainable
legacy in its areas of operation.
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SOURCE Golden Star Resources Ltd.