2022 ESG
performance
Serabi Gold plc (AIM:SRB, TSX:SBI), the
Brazilian-focused gold mining and development company,
is pleased to provide an update on its
environmental, social and governance
(“ESG”) performance for
2022.
HIGHLIGHTS
Serabi continues to prioritise a number of areas
and has seen positive results from its endeavours during 2022:
- Compliance with
all legal, environmental
and regulatory requirements to operate
- Steady
improvement in health &
safety record with ~30% compound annual
decrease in lost time injuries and total reportable injuries since
2017 following continued focus on training and oversight
- Responsible
environmental
stewardship with
- small footprint
from underground mines with no conventional tailings dams
- zero activity in
primary rain forest
- continuous
monitoring of air and water quality
- maximising
recycling of water and waste materials
- remediation of
sites degraded by artisanal mining activity
- monitoring of
biodiversity
- on site nursery
for cultivation of indigenous plants and trees
- 62% of waste
recycled or otherwise repurposed
-
Greenhouse Gas Emissions well below industry
average emissions of 0.37t CO2 equivalent per ounce of gold
produced, compared with 0.41t CO2 e/ oz in 2021 (Scope
1&2)
-
Supporting the local economy:
- 70% of
employment sourced from Para State (79% in 2021)
- 45% of
procurement of goods and services sourced from Para State (64% in
2021)
-
Community & stakeholder support
and engagement:
- 131 community/
stakeholder meetings held
- investment of
US$500,000 in community programmes
- clean water and
electricity to local communities
- road and
infrastructure maintenance
- support for
local indigenous communities
- 2,073 school
children supported with the donation of musical instruments,
support for sports events and awareness campaigns, in addition to
help with infrastructure and equipment
- 405 people
passed through environmental education programmes and
- 351 people
received medical support
- 60 people
participated in Young Apprentice programme
- Establishment of
a committee of the Board of Directors with specific responsibility
for monitoring ESG performance
Michael
Lynch-Bell,
Non-Executive
Chairman of Serabi,
commented:
“Serabi continues to place the highest emphasis
on the health, safety and well-being of our employees so it is
pleasing that our increased focus on training and oversight is
seeing a steady improvement in our safety record over recent
years.
“The Company remains focused on operating in a
responsible manner that mitigates any negative impacts and
maximises the positive benefits to the local communities and
environment within which we operate. We continue to monitor our
activity in order to measure these impacts. Artisanal or garimpeiro
mining, being generally unregulated, frequently causes significant
environmental degradation and negative impacts on local
communities. A number of the initiatives the Company undertakes are
designed to rectify these impacts including the rehabilitation of
old artisanal sites. Further, we recognise the important role
Serabi plays within the local community and, in addition to
maximising our local employment and procurement, we support the
local communities with health and education programmes and the
provision of potable water and electricity.
“In line with our continuing focus on ESG, I am
pleased to announce that we are establishing a committee of the
Board of Directors with direct responsibility for oversight of
Serabi’s performance and to establishing suitable targets to drive
further improvement.”
2022 PERFORMANCE
Legal,
environmental and regulatory
compliance
During 2022, Serabi remained in compliance with
all legal, environmental and regulatory requirements. Other than
for planned maintenance downtime or power outages, the Company was
required to stop the plant on only a single occasion due to
unplanned maintenance on the plant discharge systems. There were no
reportable environmental incidents during the year.
Occupational Health
& Safety
Injury rates remained low during the year with a
single Lost-Time Injury (“LTI”) reported and five Total Reportable
Injuries (“TRIs”) compared with zero and eight in 2021. Since 2017,
LTIs have shown a 29.9% compound annual decline and TRIs have
declined by a compound annual rate of 31.1%.
Training and oversight remain a focus in
ensuring Serabi minimises any risks to employees. During 2022 a
total of 9,251 hours of safety training were provided to employees,
an average of 14 hours per employee. In addition to safety
training, the Company runs regular health awareness programmes for
employees covering matters such as mental health, stress management
sexually transmitted diseases and breast and prostate cancer
awareness. These group sessions involving specialist health
professionals, are aimed to improve understanding, prevention and
treatment of these and other health problems.
Environmental Stewardship
Operating within the Amazon basin brings
additional responsibility on Serabi as well as added scrutiny. The
Company welcomes this scrutiny and at all times seeks to minimise
its impact on the environment and maintains a policy of undertaking
zero activity within primary rain forest.
Continuous monitoring of any impacts the Company
may have ensure adherence to the required standards and also allows
the Company to identify any issues that may arise and address
them.
Please use the following link to
access Figure 1 - https://bit.ly/3ABIsBT
Figure 1: Monitoring sites by category
and location
In addition to the monitoring described above,
the Company undertakes annual surveys of biodiversity at its
operating sites. This is both to monitor the general health of
biodiversity but also identify any endangered or threatened
species. With the tight controls on suppression of vegetation and
protection of wildlife, Serabi’s operating sites are typically more
densely forested than the surrounding area which is frequently
cleared for farming. As such, the operating sites become havens for
wildlife with a broad spectrum of mammals, birds, amphibians and
reptiles identified. Mammal species in particular were found to be
in higher concentrations than expected.
Please use the
following link to access Figure 2 - https://bit.ly/3NbY2fh
Figure 2: Images from
2022 biodiversity study
Serabi has a nursery in which it grows native
trees for rehabilitating deforested areas including areas impacted
by historic artisanal mining activity and areas licenced for
suppression by the Company to undertake exploration activities.
Please use the following link to access Figure 3
- https://bit.ly/3AtIWdl
Figure 3: Nursery for native
trees and seed collection
Serabi aims to maximise the amount of process
plant water it recycles to minimise its fresh water demand. In
total 32% of process water was recycled during 2022, down from 51%
during 2021 due to modifications in the process plant although the
overall water usage declined by almost 10% from 331,000m3 in 2021
to 302,000m3 in 2022.
In addition, the Company has a policy of
recycling as much waste material as possible, achieving a level of
62% during the year.
Greenhouse Gas
Emissions
With a small footprint and high grade deposit,
Serabi sits well below the industry average for green house
emission with 0.37 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted per
ounce of gold produced (compared with the industry average of 0.8t
CO2 e/oz from 2019) based on Scope 1 & 2 (direct emissions and
indirect emissions from energy consumption respectively).
The Company relies on diesel generators for
power during the day and for all its mining fleet using grid power,
mainly hydro-electric (“HEP”), to run the plant at night. As the
grid power infrastructure and reliability improves, the Company
will increase its usage of HEP and thereby further reduce its
greenhouse gas emissions.
Supporting the local
economy:
Serabi seeks to ensure its activity maximises
the benefits to the local region. 70% of employees come from Para
State and 32% are from the immediate communities. In addition, the
Company tries to maximise its procurement of goods and services
locally, with 45% of its requirements sourced from Para State and
32% sourced from within 100km of its operating sites.
Community & stakeholder
support and engagement
In addition to playing an important role within
the local economy, Serabi seeks to support local communities with
other initiatives. The Company meets regularly with community
groups to ensure a positive dialogue is maintained, ensure
employment and supply chain opportunities are maximised and promote
specific health, education and environmental programmes.
The Company provided electricity, potable water
and materials for roads and infrastructure to its neighbouring
communities. During 2022, a total of approximately US$500,000 was
spent on community support programmes with specific initiatives
including;
- Support for
2,073 school children
- 405 people
passed through environmental education programmes
- 351 received
medical support
- 60 people
participated in the young apprentice scheme.
- Financial
support was also provided to 7 local indigenous groups through a
representative organisation.
Please use the following link to access Figure 4
- https://bit.ly/41E0DTB
Figure 4: Community initiatives (tree planting,
waste recycling, dental hygiene and young apprentice
programmes)
The information contained within this
announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU)
No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The person who arranged for the release of this
announcement on behalf of the Company was Clive Line, Director.
Enquiries
SERABI GOLD plc
Michael
Hodgson t
+44 (0)20 7246 6830
Chief
Executive m
+44 (0)7799 473621
Clive
Line t
+44 (0)20 7246 6830
Finance
Director m
+44 (0)7710 151692
e
contact@serabigold.com
www.serabigold.com
BEAUMONT CORNISH Limited
Nominated Adviser & Financial Adviser
Roland Cornish / Michael
Cornish t
+44 (0)20 7628 3396
PEEL HUNT LLP
Joint UK Broker
Ross
Allister t
+44 (0)20 7418 9000
TAMESIS PARTNERS LLP
Joint UK Broker
Charlie Bendon/ Richard
Greenfield t
+44 (0)20 3882 2868
CAMARCO
Financial PR
Gordon Poole / Emily
Hall t
+44 (0)20 3757 4980
Copies of this announcement are available from
the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.
See
www.serabigold.com for more information
and follow us on twitter @Serabi_Gold
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The following is a glossary of technical
terms:
“Ag” |
means silver. |
“Au” |
means gold. |
“assay” |
in economic geology, means to analyse the proportions of metal in a
rock or overburden sample; to test an ore or mineral for
composition, purity, weight or other properties of commercial
interest. |
“CIM” |
means the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and
Petroleum. |
“chalcopyrite” |
is a sulphide of copper and iron. |
“Cu” |
means copper. |
“cut-off grade” |
the lowest grade of mineralised material that qualifies as ore in a
given deposit; rock of the lowest assay included in an ore
estimate. |
“dacite porphyry intrusive” |
a silica-rich igneous rock with larger phenocrysts (crystals)
within a fine-grained matrixi |
“deposit” |
is a mineralised body which has been physically delineated by
sufficient drilling, trenching, and/or underground work, and found
to contain a sufficient average grade of metal or metals to warrant
further exploration and/or development expenditures; such a deposit
does not qualify as a commercially mineable ore body or as
containing ore reserves, until final legal, technical, and economic
factors have been resolved. |
“electromagnetics” |
is a geophysical technique tool measuring the magnetic field
generated by subjecting the sub-surface to electrical
currents. |
“garimpo” |
is a local artisanal mining operation |
“garimpeiro” |
is a local artisanal miner. |
“geochemical” |
refers to geological information using measurements derived from
chemical analysis. |
“geophysical” |
refers to geological information using measurements derived from
the use of magnetic and electrical readings. |
“geophysical techniques” |
include the exploration of an area by exploiting differences in
physical properties of different rock types. Geophysical methods
include seismic, magnetic, gravity, induced polarisation and other
techniques; geophysical surveys can be undertaken from the ground
or from the air. |
“gossan” |
is an iron-bearing weathered product that overlies a sulphide
deposit. |
“grade” |
is the concentration of mineral within the host rock typically
quoted as grams per tonne (g/t), parts per million (ppm) or parts
per billion (ppb). |
“g/t” |
means grams per tonne. |
“granodiorite” |
is an igneous intrusive rock similar to granite. |
“hectare” or a “ha” |
is a unit of measurement equal to 10,000 square metres. |
“igneous” |
is a rock that has solidified from molten material or magma. |
“IP” |
refers to induced polarisation, a geophysical technique whereby an
electric current is induced into the sub-surface and the
conductivity of the sub-surface is recorded. |
“intrusive” |
is a body of rock that invades older rocks. |
“mineralisation” |
the concentration of metals and their chemical compounds within a
body of rock. |
“mineralised” |
refers to rock which contains minerals e.g. iron, copper,
gold. |
“Mo-Bi-As-Te-W-Sn” |
Molybdenum-Bismuth-Arsenic-Tellurium-Tungsten-Tin |
“monzogranite” |
a biotite rich granite, often part of the later-stage emplacement
of a larger granite body. |
“mt” |
means million tonnes. |
“ore” |
means a metal or mineral or a combination of these of sufficient
value as to quality and quantity to enable it to be mined at a
profit. |
“oxides” |
are near surface bed-rock which has been weathered and oxidised by
long term exposure to the effects of water and air. |
“ppm” |
means parts per million. |
“saprolite” |
is a weathered or decomposed clay-rich rock. |
“sulphide” |
refers to minerals consisting of a chemical combination of sulphur
with a metal. |
“vein” |
is a generic term to describe an occurrence of mineralised rock
within an area of non-mineralised rock. |
“VTEM” |
refers to versa time domain electromagnetic, a particular variant
of time-domain electromagnetic geophysical survey to prospect for
conductive bodies below surface. |
Assay Results
Assay results reported within this release include those
provided by the Company's own on-site laboratory facilities at
Palito and have not yet been independently verified. Serabi closely
monitors the performance of its own facility against results from
independent laboratory analysis for quality control purpose. As a
matter of normal practice, the Company sends duplicate samples
derived from a variety of the Company's activities to accredited
laboratory facilities for independent verification. Since mid-2019,
over 10,000 exploration drill core samples have been assayed at
both the Palito laboratory and certified external laboratory, in
most cases the ALS laboratory in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. When
comparing significant assays with grades exceeding 1 g/t gold,
comparison between Palito versus external results record an average
over-estimation by the Palito laboratory of 6.7% over this period.
Based on the results of this work, the Company's management are
satisfied that the Company's own facility shows sufficiently good
correlation with independent laboratory facilities for exploration
drill samples. The Company would expect that in the preparation of
any future independent Reserve/Resource statement undertaken in
compliance with a recognised standard, the independent authors of
such a statement would not use Palito assay results without
sufficient duplicates from an appropriately certificated
laboratory.
Forward-looking statements
Certain statements in this announcement are, or may be deemed to
be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are
identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ‘‘believe’’,
‘‘could’’, “should” ‘‘envisage’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘intend’’,
‘‘may’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘will’’ or the negative of those, variations or
comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These
forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but
rather on the Directors’ current expectations and assumptions
regarding the Company’s future growth, results of operations,
performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the
amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive
advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward
looking statements reflect the Directors’ current beliefs and
assumptions and are based on information currently available to the
Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking
statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general
economic and business conditions, competition, environmental and
other regulatory changes, actions by governmental authorities, the
availability of capital markets, reliance on key personnel,
uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors, many of which
are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward-looking
statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the
Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot
assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such
forward looking statements.
Qualified Persons Statement
The scientific and technical information contained within this
announcement has been reviewed and approved by Michael Hodgson, a
Director of the Company. Mr Hodgson is an Economic Geologist by
training with over 30 years' experience in the mining industry. He
holds a BSc (Hons) Geology, University of London, a MSc Mining
Geology, University of Leicester and is a Fellow of the Institute
of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Chartered Engineer of the
Engineering Council of UK, recognizing him as both a Qualified
Person for the purposes of Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and
by the AIM Guidance Note on Mining and Oil & Gas Companies
dated June 2009.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities
regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents
of this news release
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