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Burnett said making proper use of what was at your
disposal was a layup for gold miners looking to stay
relevant.
“Some of these are really quick, easy wins,” she said.
“You didn’t have to engineer it, you just have to be in
a country that supports it.”
Howard, again putting on his “banking hat”, mused
gold miners would have to compete over more
progressive metrics than just AISC.
“We measure companies on AISC, why don’t
we have CO2 emissions per ounce of gold in the
quarterly reports?,” he asked. “We’re trying to educate
Kristie Young ourselves, at Canaccord we say, ‘what other metrics
can we be looking at?’. It’s not just production.”
Similar to last year’s judging discussion, the other
“I think it’s been a hard year for gold miners. The haves and the
side of the ESG coin – social governance – reared its head as
have nots, and it’s broadly geographic.”
Burnett and Young tracked the gender diversity of gold miners’
Global economic inflation and securing low-cost fuel stood as board and senior staff.
chief among issues for miners trying to keep costs down the Burnett said the large mining companies were more progressive
past year, but pressures similarly continued to mount in retaining
in their hiring as they often had more eyes on them.
skilled staff. This also compounded with new waves of COVID-19
spurring absenteeism among workers.
ChemX Materials Ltd non-executive chair Kristie Young said gold
miners now had to compete with battery minerals developers
becoming more attractive to workers due to their role in the
battery-powered future.
“In terms of humans and where they want to work, there’s definitely
been a shift in wanting to do things that are more meaningful, not
just in mining but across the board,” she said.
“I think that’s reflected in the fact salaries are quite high and
people have choice, therefore they say, ‘actually, I want to do
something more meaningful than something that might not be as
Paul Howard
meaningful’. It might not be a deliberate move away from gold, it’s
probably the pool around doing something for the world.
“There’s an expectation of ASX200 companies,” she said. “It’s
“During the energy transition, it has been more attractive to work
naming and shaming that’s causing the behaviour to change.
in something where you’re doing something for the world.”
Below them, the behaviour doesn’t often change because they
Howard concurred, pointing to the fact historical gold towns such
can get away with not doing anything.
as Kalgoorlie and their greater regions are now hosting breakout
“WAF has one woman on each side of management. Meanwhile,
battery minerals stories in rare earths, lithium and nickel.
Perseus is the most diverse as they have four women out of 12
“We believe Kalgoorlie is no longer just a gold town, where
people.”
everyone works for a gold company,” he said. “There’s
Since the judging panel had convened, WAF increased the
competition with the likes of Lynas [Rare Earths Ltd] building its
gender diversity of its board by appointing Robin Romero as
rare earths processing facility and a number of new lithium and
an independent non-executive director, and elevating non-
nickel developments popping up in the region.”
executive director Elizabeth Mounsey to executive director of
Regis Resources Ltd non-executive director Lynda Burnett did
human resources.
not oppose these points but suggested the clever gold miners
“The talent pool is there, there needs to be a bigger pool of
were managing to adapt.
women directors and the way you get that is people starting to
“The gold miners are putting in an effort to be sustainable…
mentor and sponsor young people and women, more people
they’re doing everything they can to be that good corporate
into those director roles,” Burnett continued.
citizen. There’s a lot you can do at operations, you can use solar
“If you’re a junior, it’s easy to say, ‘we need people with
power, for example,” she said.
experience, we don’t want to train anybody, I don’t have time to
There certainly are opportunities for African developers to get
train someone, let’s hit the ground running’. But you reap what
innovative, including the likes of iron ore developer Genmin Ltd
you sow.”
locking in renewable hydroelectricity for its Baniaka project in
Gabon.
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