Healthy Environments Now and For the Future
We carefully plan, design and build operations to mitigate our environmental impacts, and work with host communities and governments to ensure that our operations meet acceptable standards of practice and adhere to regulations. By investing in technologies and implementing leading environmental practices, where feasible, we seek to safely manage tailings and waste, restore disturbed land, reduce our water and energy consumption and protect the ecosystems surrounding our sites.
Environmental laws and regulations vary in each of our operating jurisdictions, and we rely on our teams across the Company to understand regulations and align our operations to legal requirements. In addition to regional regulations, SIMS provides environmental performance requirements for all of our sites. We align our operations to international best practices and standards, including MAC’s TSM framework, the RGMPs, and others described in Our Approach to Responsible Mining.
We have achieved certification under the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard at our Kışladağ, Efemçukuru, Olympias and Stratoni mines.
Energy and Climate Change
Climate change is a global issue that has the potential to impact our operations, stakeholders and the communities in which we operate. Our energy consumption is the primary determinant of our ability to contribute to global climate change goals. To maintain the resilience of our business from both the direct effects of climate change, as well as the ways the world may respond to climate change, Eldorado seeks to manage climate-related risks and opportunities.
Eldorado’s climate-related physical and transition risks and opportunities are discussed in detail in our Climate Change & GHG Emissions Report, found on our Sustainability Reporting page.
As we implement our Climate Strategy to reduce GHG emissions, we recognize the importance of holding our progress to account through measurement and disclosure.
This is why Eldorado has set a target to mitigate Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by an amount equal to 30% of our 2020 baseline from current operating mines by 2030, on a “business- as-usual” basis.
This target accounts for the potential future growth of our operations and energy needs of our sites, while focusing on discrete and available opportunities to reduce emissions as our first step toward decarbonization.
Operating mines included in the target are Lamaque, Kışladağ, Efemçukuru, Olympias and Stratoni. Eldorado does not expect uniform GHG emission reductions from each operating mine. Progress toward the target will be measured on a discrete basis by quantifying GHG emission mitigations and reductions relative to a “business-as-usual” scenario. As new mines come into operation, our GHG emissions may increase. While operations other than those listed above are not currently included in our target, Eldorado will seek to integrate carbon considerations into the design and construction of new projects, such as through implementation of energy efficient systems, technologies and processes and procurement of energy from low-carbon and renewable sources, in alignment with our Climate Change Strategy.
Tailings and Waste
Recent tailings-related incidents have underscored the importance of responsible mine waste management. Eldorado is committed to implementing leading practices in tailings management.
Eldorado is proud of our tailings management practices, and we work to mitigate associated risks through the use of technologies such as dry-stack tailings. We also implement leading management practices such as retaining an Independent Tailings Review Board.
Eldorado’s Technical Services, Projects & Engineering department oversees and manages Eldorado’s tailings facilities. We rely on Engineers of Record and third- party experts to support in the design, construction, operation, maintenance, surveillance and closure of tailings facilities. Eldorado’s EVP & COO is responsible for overseeing the operation, management and commercial matters related to tailings management facilities. Ultimately, Eldorado’s President & CEO is responsible for the Company’s tailings management practices. Eldorado’s Technical Committee of the Board of Directors provides oversight of technical matters related to tailings, and the Sustainability Committee has oversight of sustainability-related tailings matters.
In 2022, we began to develop a Global Tailings Stewardship Program that integrates with SIMS and leading external frameworks, including TSM and the RGMPs, and will seek to bring consistency and create a shared knowledge base across our global operations. The program will capture all stages and areas of tailings management and governance, including design, construction, operation, closure, monitoring, inspection, analysis, risk assessment, audit, training, emergency response and preparedness, stakeholder engagement and communications.
Implementing Leading Practices
Tailings are created when mined ore is processed through water-based solutions to separate valuable metals from surrounding rock. Once metals are separated and collected, the remaining mixture of water, waste rock and residual chemicals results in an uneconomic material that must be stored securely.
Tailings are typically stored in a liquid, or wet form, within purposely constructed tailings dams or tailings management facilities (TMFs). Properly designed, constructed and maintained TMFs pose manageable risks. Tailings containment failure is typically due to design conditions not being maintained. Containment failure of wet tailings has higher consequences to the surrounding environment due to higher flow-ability.
Dry-stack technology is an alternative method of tailings management that removes most of the water from tailings.
The water is recycled for future mining uses or treated and discharged into the environment and the dry tailings are transported and stored in TMFs.
Eldorado currently utilizes dry-stack tailings at our Efemçukuru and Olympias mines. Dry-stack tailings from the Olympias mine are stored at the Kokkinolakkas Tailings Management Facility. As a heap leach operation, Kışladağ does not produce tailings. In 2021, Eldorado received approval from the Greek state to use dry-stack tailings at Skouries.
Eldorado’s SIMS Tailings Facility Stewardship Standard aligns with internationally recognized best practice and corporate commitments under the WGC’s RGMPs and MAC’s TSM. In 2022, Lamaque underwent Eldorado’s first SIMS Compliance Verification and achieved Level AAA under the MAC-TSM Tailings Management Protocol, which is the highest level of performance a site can achieve.
Eldorado has established an Independent Tailings Review Board (ITRB) as an opportunity to strengthen management and governance in accordance with internationally recognized best practices. In 2022, Eldorado progressed its tailings stewardship program by conducting ITRB reviews and site visits. The site visits provided opportunities for our internal teams to learn from world-class experts on safe tailings design, construction and operation. The ITRB process continues to provide Eldorado with valuable opinions and non-binding recommendations to continuously strengthen the safety of our tailings facilities globally. The ITRB will seek to conduct biannual reviews of Eldorado’s tailings management facilities globally.
More information about Eldorado’s current dry-stack tailings management facilities can be found in our latest Sustainability Report.
At Kışladağ, we operate heap leach facilities to extract gold from mined ore and, in doing so, we apply strict management practices and voluntary standards to mitigate associated risks and uphold the safety and health of our people, host communities and the environment.
Eldorado is committed to living its values of courage to face innovation challenges head on and having the drive to deliver on our environmental promises. Over the last several years, our team at Lamaque has been working to convert its entire fleet of mobile mining equipment from the use of petroleum lubricants to a canola-based biodegradable oil In 2022, we expanded this initiative to include our contractors.
Water and Air
Water Use
Availability and access to water is critical for our mining operations. We use water for mineral processing, dust suppression, slurry transport and personal consumption. Responsible management of water resources is therefore essential to our long-term sustainable development, and to our environmental stewardship and relationships with local stakeholders.
Effective water management and recycling practices help limit our reliance on water sources, and effective governance ensures that water discharges fall within the parameters of our permits and licenses.
Eldorado’s SIMS Water Stewardship standard provides a set of minimum performance requirements for Eldorado’s water management practices. Sites will manage water in conformance with Level A of the MAC-TSM Water Stewardship Protocol.
Definition:
All water drawn from surface water, groundwater, seawater, or a third party for any use
How we interact with water
Most of our water withdrawals are resultant of pumped water that has infiltrated the mines, originating from renewable groundwater sources, and used predominantly in ore processing. Water withdrawals are done in accordance with local regulations and our applicable permits.
Definition:
All water that has been withdrawn and used in production, evaporated, transpired, generated as waste, stored, or otherwise rendered unusable to others, and is therefore not released back to surface water, groundwater, seawater, or a third party
How we interact with water
Recycled water makes up the majority of our water consumption, particularly at those sites where we have zero water-discharge requirements. Where possible, we seek to recycle water in processes and across our operations. Recycled water is used for mineral processing, dust suppression and slurry transport as well as throughout our leach pad areas and adsorption, desorption, recovery (ADR) carbon plants. Water is also stored in TMFs and used for human consumption onsite, and minor losses are attributable to evaporation.
Definition:
All water that has been used or unused and released to surface water, groundwater, seawater, or a third party
How we interact with water
All water that comes into contact with our sites is treated and tested before being discharged back to the environment (e.g., rivers, lakes, and reinjection into groundwater). We discharge water in accordance with local regulations and our applicable permits and licenses. Some of our sites, such as Skouries, have zero water-discharge requirements.
Air and Dust
We recognize the impacts of air pollution and dust to our workforce, surrounding communities and the environment, and actively work to manage pollution and dust at our operating sites. Within SIMS, we have established an Air, Noise, and Vibration Management standard that aligns with internationally recognized best practices, such as the IFC General EHS Guidelines, and includes requirements such as maintaining dust control and air quality monitoring plans.
Biodiversity and Reclamation
Eldorado designs and constructs our projects to minimize land disturbance while prioritizing a safe working environment for our employees and contractors.
Constructing and operating our mines can have a significant impact on local land, environments and communities, though many of these impacts can be reversed. Environmental reclamation practices such as deconstructing closed facilities, treating contaminated soil and revegetating areas where trees and/or other plants were removed help to revitalize the impacted land.
Managing biodiversity is an important part of our mine plans and closure plans, and is addressed within SIMS, which includes requirements such as conformance with Level A of the MAC-TSM Biodiversity Conservation Management Protocol and implementation of Biodiversity Management Plans.
Eldorado does not operate or own sites in any of the following internationally recognized protected areas: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Protected Area Categories I-III, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserves, Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).