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Agnico Eagle TSM Company Profile – For the Year 2020-21
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited is a senior Canadian gold mining company that has produced precious metals since 1957 and is now the biggest gold producer in Canada. The company’s operating mines are in Canada, Finland, and Mexico, with exploration and development activities in each of these regions, as well as in the United States and Sweden. It employs more than 10,000 people worldwide.
For over 60 years, Agnico Eagle has consistently stayed true to its mission to build a high quality, easy-to-understand business – one that generates superior long-term returns for our shareholders, while creating a great place to work for our employees and making a positive contribution to the communities and countries in which it operates. The Company has built a strong culture of responsible behaviour, achieving high standards of sustainability performance with a long-term goal of distinguishing itself as a responsible miner. By operating with respect for others, building trust, being reliable and sharing opportunities, Agnico Eagle is determined to make mining work for everyone – employees, stakeholders, and communities, including the Indigenous communities where it operates. The Company believes that responsible growth can bring prosperity for the benefit of future generations.
Summary of TSM Performance
Agnico Eagle Mines started implementing TSM in 2011 and rigorously applies TSM best practices across its operating mines while striving to improve overall performance year over year. Each site has a dedicated person that ensures implementation and monitoring of TSM protocols and best practices.
The external verification for 2020-2021 was performed at Agnico Eagle’s Goldex, LaRonde, and Meadowbank mines in Canada, the Kittilä mine in Finland and the Pinos Altos and La India mines in Mexico. All six mines had achieved level A and above for all indicators in the 2018 external audit and each received a TSM Leadership Award. For this most recent external verification, despite protocol updates with increasingly stringent requirements, the sites still performed very well.
Some key highlights from Agnico Eagle’s 2020-2021 TSM performance include a level A or above performance under all TSM protocols for three operations, namely Kittilä, Meadowbank and LaRonde. Additionally, all six operations that underwent an external verification, as well as Agnico Eagle’s corporate head office, met all the requirements of the TSM Crisis Management and Communications Planning Protocol. Overall, Agnico Eagle met the requirements (A or higher) of 160 indicators on a total of 165.
The Company’s strongest performance is under the Health & Safety, Biodiversity Conservation Management and Aboriginal & Community Relationships Protocols. The Meadowbank and Pinos Altos facilities achieved a perfect score (AAA) for all indicators of the Biodiversity Conservation Management protocol, while the Goldex, LaRonde, La India, Kittila and Meadowbank facilities achieved a perfect score for all indicators under the Indigenous and Community Relationships Protocol.
Protecting the health and safety of employees and contractors is fundamental to the long-term success of the Company and is a non-negotiable element of a good and sustainable business. The past two years were marked by the unique challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Agnico’s operating and health & safety teams demonstrated a remarkable adaptability to respond promptly to changing conditions. The Company also continued to develop tools and training to ensure the optimum use and success of the Supervision Formula across all our sites and continued to advance its Towards Zero Accidents health and safety initiative.
In terms of biodiversity, Agnico Eagle is dedicated to supporting biodiversity and integrating conservation actions into our planning and operations. Operating in a variety of ecosystems from the arctic tundra in Nunavut, to the boreal forest in Abitibi to the desert in Mexico, the Company’s biodiversity management plans are adapted to the unique circumstances of each operation and follow TSM’s Biodiversity Conservation Management Protocol. As such, careful land use planning, done in consultation with local communities, facilitates the identification of critical habitat and species, and the implementation of initiatives to monitor, study, protect and support the sustainability of ecosystems. For example, the Kittilä mine has a thorough fish monitoring program which includes releasing about 5,000 one-year-old trout into the Seurujoki river each year, as well as a program to replant, protect and monitor the endangered Lapland buttercups. The Company’s Nunavut operations have Terrestrial Environment Monitoring and Management Plans (TEMMP) that identify potential effects of the mining operations to wildlife and wildlife habitat and measures to mitigate them. This includes specific measures to protect caribou. Both the Pinos Altos and Goldex mines have implemented programs to introduce bees and pollinating species in mining reclamation and land restoration.
As part of this external verification, only Pinos Altos used the 2019 version of the Indigenous and Community Relationships protocol while all other facilities used the previous version. Work will continue to fully implement the revised protocol and meet all requirements as soon as possible. Agnico Eagle believes that fostering inclusive and trusting relationships with Indigenous peoples and local communities is not only essential to a project’s success, but also critical to ensuring socio-economic benefits. That is why we take a life cycle approach to our relationships and initiatives with local communities and Indigenous peoples, adapting to the specific needs and circumstances of impacted communities as well as jurisdictional requirements. All of our sites have teams dedicated to community relations and stakeholder engagement. This is integrated into our Risk Monitoring and Management System, ensuring our sustainability programs remain focused on stakeholder priorities and social risks are regularly assessed through different feedback mechanisms to identify and resolve issues.
In the last two years, the pandemic has certainly reinforced the importance of building such relationships with our local communities and Indigenous peoples. Our focus was on working with communities to keep them safe. We intensified our outreach and implemented new methods and online engagement tools to address local needs. We consulted widely with local authorities to understand community-based priorities and provided support to communities where the need was greatest. We also continued building and enhancing relationships with Indigenous groups through early meaningful engagement and consultation on exploration projects, implementation or negotiations of mutually beneficial agreements and integration of traditional knowledge into environmental aspects of our activities.
Agnico Eagle’s facilities achieved a level A or above for almost all of the indicators under the Tailings Management Protocol, the Energy and GHG Emissions Management Protocol as well as the new Water Stewardship Protocol but underperformed on a few indicators in comparison to the previous reporting year. In the last two years, the Company began implementation of TSM’s updated Tailings Management Protocol as well as the new Water Stewardship Protocol and integrating them into its overall governance for critical infrastructure. Most of the new requirements have been implemented, but some need to be finalized. As such, Pinos Altos did not achieve level A under the Tailings Management Protocol for Indicators 4 and 5, but the facility has developed an action plan to complete implementation of the updated protocol in 2022 and achieve the level A. Goldex achieved a very good overall performance in terms of water stewardship but the facility did not meet the requirement of the new protocol in terms of having set quantitative targets. The facility has adjusted to meet performance targets requirements in 2022. Agnico Eagle will continue implementing these protocols as it is committed to continually improving the management of its facilities by developing and incorporating best practices to ensure governance and accountability for its critical infrastructure.
In terms of energy and GHG emissions, all of Agnico Eagle’s operating mines have internal energy consumption performance targets, apart from Goldex whose GHG emissions fall below the reporting threshold. As such, responsible energy and GHG emissions management at sites is integrated into Agnico’s broader strategy and includes specific initiatives as well as investments in research and development (R&D) that target energy efficiency and the reduction of the Company’s carbon footprint. Even though La India and Kittilä have underperformed on their performance targets, Agnico Eagle’s overall performance under this protocol has improved compared to the previous reporting year. Agnico remains a leader in the gold industry for low carbon production with five of our seven operations outperforming the industry average for GHG emissions intensity. Still, with 60% of its total GHG emissions coming from its Nunavut operations, increasing the proportion of non-carbon emitting electricity sources is critical for Agnico Eagle to meet our long-term energy and GHG objectives. As such, in April 2021, Agnico Eagle announced a net zero carbon target for 2050 and pursues its work on its Climate Action Strategy to evaluate pathways to achieve net zero, integrate more specific reduction targets and other key climate-related targets as it continues to move forward on improving its performance on all climate-related matters.
TSM External Verification
Agnico Eagle’s external verification was included in an integrated audit that contained requirements from three other standards: Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMP), Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) and Agnico Eagle’s Risk Management and Monitoring System (RMMS). Integration of the four audits is a first for Agnico Eagle and places the Company among the mining industry’s forerunners in applying this improved practice. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, audits were performed face-to-face, except for at the Company’s facilities in Mexico, which were completed through video conference.
Agnico Eagle’s Verification Service Provider (VSP) was also mandated to perform external audits when protocols needed it.
For more information, please visit www.agnicoeagle.com
*Goldex’s total GHG emissions are under 25 kt CO2 and therefore are not required to report performance for Indicators 1 and 3 of the Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management Protocol.
Facility | Crisis management and communications preparedness | Review | Training |
---|---|---|---|
Agnico Eagle Mines – Corporate Office | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Goldex | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Kittila | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
La India | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
LaRonde | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Meadowbank | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mine Canadian Malartic | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Pinos Altos | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Facility | PREVENTING FORCED LABOUR | PREVENTING CHILD LABOUR |
---|---|---|
Agnico Eagle Mines – Corporate Office | ✔ | ✔ |
Goldex | ✔ | ✔ |
Kittila | ✔ | ✔ |
La India | ✔ | ✔ |
LaRonde | ✔ | ✔ |
Meadowbank | ✔ | ✔ |
Mine Canadian Malartic | ✔ | ✔ |
Pinos Altos | ✔ | ✔ |
Community of Interest (COI) identification | Effective COI engagement and dialogue | COI response mechanism | Reporting | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Goldex | ||||
Kittila | ||||
La India | ||||
LaRonde | ||||
Meadowbank | ||||
Mine Canadian Malartic | ||||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Commitments and accountability | Planning and implementation | Training, behaviour and culture | Monitoring and reporting | Performance | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goldex | |||||
Kittila | |||||
La India | |||||
LaRonde | |||||
Meadowbank | |||||
Mine Canadian Malartic | |||||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Tailings management policy and commitment | Tailings management system | Assigned accountability and responsibility | Annual tailings management review | Operation, maintenance and surveillance (OMS) manual | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goldex | |||||
Kittila | |||||
LaRonde | |||||
Meadowbank | |||||
Mine Canadian Malartic | |||||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Commitment, accountability and communications | Conservation planning and implementation | Reporting | |
---|---|---|---|
Goldex | |||
Kittila | |||
La India | |||
LaRonde | |||
Meadowbank | |||
Mine Canadian Malartic | |||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions management | Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions reporting systems | Energy and greenhouse gas emissions performance targets | |
---|---|---|---|
Goldex | |||
Kittila | |||
La India | |||
LaRonde | |||
Meadowbank | |||
Mine Canadian Malartic | |||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Water governance | Operational water management | Watershed-scale planning | Water reporting and performance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Goldex | ||||
Kittila | ||||
La India | ||||
LaRonde | ||||
Meadowbank | ||||
Mine Canadian Malartic | ||||
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Community of Interest Identification | Effective Community of Interest Engagement and Dialogue | Effective Indigenous Engagement and Dialogue | Community Impact and Benefit Management | Community of Interest Response Mechanism | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pinos Altos |
AAA
AA
A
B
C
Facility | Total Direct Emissions (Tonnes CO2e) | Total Indirect Emissions (Tonnes CO2e) | Total Emissions | Total Energy Use (GJ) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Goldex | 10861 | 78 | 10939 | 736887 |
Kittila | 7348 | 61573 | 68921 | 991556 |
La India | 42933 | 0 | 42933 | 596019 |
LaRonde | 31861 | 204 | 32065 | 1988607 |
Meadowbank | 222004 | 0 | 222004 | 3124560 |
Meliadine | 121362 | 0 | 121362 | 1697161 |
Pinos Altos | 26397 | 53536 | 79933 | 796764 |
International Initiatives | ||
---|---|---|
Industry Sustainability Initiatives | ICMM Sustainable Development Framework |
|
WGC Conflict Free Gold Standard |
||
ISO 14001 - EMS Standard |
||
Management System Standards | OHSAS 18001 |
|
UN Global Compact |
||
International Voluntary Initiatives | Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative |
|
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights |
||
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises |
||
AA 1000 |
||
Reporting, Disclosure and Transparency Standards | Global Reporting Initiative |
|
CDP |
||
Water Disclosure Project |
||
Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition |
||
IFC Social and Environmental Performance Standards |
||
Financing Standards | Dow Jones Sustainability Index |
|
Listed on Socially Responsible Investing Indices | Jantzi Social Index |
|
Responsible Jewellery |
||
Industry Sustainability Initiatives | International Cyanide Code |
✔ |
Kimberley Process |
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2024 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2024 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2022 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2021 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2021 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2020 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2017 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | 2014 | TSM Letter of Assurance
Agnico Eagle Mines | Goldex | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | LaRonde | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | Mine Canadian Malartic | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | Meadowbank | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | Pinos Altos | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | La India | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | Kittila | 2024 | Verification Summary Report
Agnico Eagle Mines | Meliadine | 2022 | Verification Summary Report
TSM Results 2021 (Externally Verified)
TSM Results 2017 (Externally Verified)
TSM Results 2014 (Externally Verified)
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