Responsible Gold Mining Principles

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on the Exposure Draft of Responsible Gold Mining Principles.

The Principles constitute a new framework that sets out clear expectations for investors, downstream users and other stakeholders, such as governments and communities, what constitutes responsible gold mining. They are intended to address the key environmental, social and governance issues for the gold mining sector. During 2018, we validated this approach through an extensive consultation process. Most stakeholders welcomed the initiative but many also contributed valuable feedback on what they saw as areas for improvement. Extensive changes were incorporated and these are reflected in what is now the final, Exposure Draft.

The World Gold Council’s aim is that the Principles should become a credible, efficient and widely-recognised framework through which gold mining companies can provide confidence to their stakeholders that their gold has been produced responsibly. There is no intention to create a new standard, since there are already many standards that address different aspects of responsible mining. The Responsible Gold Mining Principles are however intended to recognise and consolidate existing instruments under a single framework. Conformance with the Principles will be subject to independent assurance (see the draft Assurance Framework here)

The Responsible Gold Mining Principles will support the efficient operation of the gold market reflecting evolving regulatory and business concerns and technical advances. They are designed to address the due diligence requirements of refiners and to reflect the commitment of the leading companies in the gold supply chain to responsible sourcing.

This survey asks for feedback on each of the 10 draft Principles and the supporting commitments. We are grateful for your time and believe it should take no more than 15- 20 minutes to complete.

We commit to provide feedback to survey participants on the outcomes from the consultation.

The feedback form enables you to give a rating from 0 to 3 – from worst to best – on each expectation. The ratings are as follows:

For each Principle and supporting commitment please tick the box that corresponds to your rating. If you would like to explain your chosen rating, or to suggest a change or improvement in a specific Principles, please use the comments section.