Equinox Gold Publishes 2023 ESG Report
Equinox Gold Publishes 2023 ESG Report
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 9, 2024) -
Equinox Gold Corp.
(TSX: EQX)
(NYSE American: EQX) ("Equinox Gold" or the "Company") has published its 2023 Environmental,
Social and Governance ("ESG") Report. To streamline reporting, this annual ESG report consolidates
disclosure on the Company's strategy and performance for key topics including health and safety,
environmental stewardship, water stewardship, climate action, and tailings management. The
consolidated report and data tables summarizing the Company's performance against relevant Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics are available
for review and download on Equinox Gold's website at
www.equinoxgold.com
.
Greg Smith, President & CEO of Equinox Gold, commented: "Equinox Gold's 2023 ESG Report
summarizes our responsible mining commitments and management approach to the ESG issues that
matter most to our business and our stakeholders. We have dedicated significant effort over the last six
years to ensuring our commitment to excellence in responsible mining creates the foundation for our
corporate culture and business strategy. We are seeing year-on-year improvements to our performance
as the result of those efforts, and I am confident our commitment to these principles will continue to drive
progress in the years ahead."
2023 ESG Results
Environment
Beat all environmental targets, with a Significant Environmental Incident Frequency Rate of 0.29
per million hours worked compared to our target of 1.40, a 54% improvement compared to 2022
Reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 4% compared to 2022 as we advance our target of
achieving a 25% reduction by 2030
Initiated the process to implement a comprehensive water stewardship strategy
Continued to implement best practices for tailings and heap leach management and updated our
Tailings Management Overview Report
Published data for the third time to CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project)
Entered into renewable energy wind contracts for two of our Brazil operations that will reduce our
GHG emissions and result in approximately US$40 million in savings over the 10-year contract
Achieved Towards Sustainable Mining Level A performance for the Biodiversity Conservation
Management protocol at all our mines
Used 80% recycled water at our operations compared to 58% in 2022
Planted 11,786 trees in reforestation projects around our sites
Social
Beat all safety targets, realizing a 31% improvement compared to 2022 with a Total Recordable
Injury Frequency Rate of 1.47 per million hours worked compared to our target of 3.25
Seven lost-time incidents and one fatality; four mines had no lost-time injuries for the year
Provided 167,000 hours of training to our employees, of which more than 34% was on health and
safety topics and 120 hours was dedicated to cybersecurity awareness
Invested US$9.5 million to support community initiatives
96% of total procurement spent with in-country suppliers
Improved our community and Indigenous engagement practices and achieved Towards
Sustainable Mining Level A performance for the Indigenous and Community Relations protocol at
all our operating mines and Level AA at 60% of our operating mines
Governance
Achieved Level A rating in at least 95% of Towards Sustainable Mining protocols at all mine sites
Expanded our enterprise risk management process
Zero substantiated cases of bribery or corruption or human rights violations
Launched our Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure suppliers adhere to our high standards of
responsible business conduct
Completed Code of Conduct and Business Ethics training for our entire workforce, including
training on human rights
2024 ESG Priorities
Continue to improve our health and safety and environmental performance
Develop a corporate strategy for equity, diversity and inclusion
Achieve Level A rating in 100% of Towards Sustainable Mining Safety and Health protocols and at
least 95% for the Crisis Management, Water Stewardship, Climate Change, and Biodiversity
Conservation protocols
More information about Equinox Gold's 2023 performance, 2024 targets and commitments to
responsible mining is available in the reports and other disclosure on our website at
www.equinoxgold.com/responsible-mining
.
Equinox Gold Contacts
Greg Smith, President & Chief Executive Officer
Rhylin Bailie, Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel: +1 604-558-0560
Email:
Cautionary Notes
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within
the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking
information in this news release relate to, among other things: the strategic vision for the Company
and expectations regarding exploration potential, production capabilities and future financial or
operational performance; the Company's expectations for achieving its responsible mining
objectives; including expectations for the Company's health and safety performance, and target
protocol ratings. Forward-looking statements or information generally identified by words such as
"target", "will", "ensure", "continue", "develop", "commitment", "achieve" and similar expressions and
phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", or "should", or the
negative connotation of such terms, are intended to identify forward-looking statements and
information. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements and information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking
statements since the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
The Company has based these forward-looking statements and information on the Company's current
expectations and projections about future events and these assumptions include: Equinox Gold's
ability to achieve the exploration, production, cost and development expectations for its respective
operations and projects; the Company's ability to achieve its objective of becoming an industry leader
for responsible mining and sustainable development;
the availability of funds for the Company's
projects and future cash requirements; the Company's ability to comply with environmental, health
and safety laws or other requirements, standards or protocols; and the Company's ability to reduce its
GHG emissions and reach its GHG emissions reduction target. While the Company considers these
assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, they may prove to be
incorrect. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements or information contained in this news release. The Company cautions that forward-looking
statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release and the Company has
made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include,
without limitation: fluctuations in gold prices; fluctuations in prices for energy inputs, labour, materials,
supplies and services; fluctuations in currency markets; operational risks and hazards inherent with
the business of mining (including environmental accidents and hazards, geotechnical failures,
industrial accidents, equipment breakdown, unusual or unexpected geological or structural
formations, cave-ins, flooding and severe weather); inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain
insurance to cover these risks and hazards; employee relations; relationships with, and claims by,
local communities and Indigenous populations; the Company's ability to obtain all necessary permits,
licenses and regulatory approvals in a timely manner or at all; changes in laws, regulations and
government practices, including environmental, export and import laws and regulations; legal
restrictions relating to mining; risks relating to expropriation; increased competition in the mining
industry; and those factors identified in the section titled "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's
MD&A dated February 21, 2024 for the year ended December 31, 2023, and in the section titled
"Risks Related to the Business" in the Company's most recently filed Annual Information Form, both
of which are available on SEDAR+ at
www.sedarplus.ca
and on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov/edgar
.
Forward-looking statements and information are designed to help readers understand management's
views as of that time with respect to future events and speak only as of the date they are made. Except
as required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or to publicly announce
the results of any change to any forward-looking statement or information contained or incorporated by
reference to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes
in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements and information. If the Company updates any
one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make
additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. All forward-looking
statements and information contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by
this cautionary statement.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208596