Community Investment

We recognize the important role our operations can play as catalysts for social and economic development in the communities we operate in and beyond. All our operations support a wide range of community development initiatives, which are based on the local socioeconomic environment and community needs. 

Our approach to community investment is set out in our integrated Environment and Sustainability Policy. The policy sets out our approach to social sustainability and community development, and includes commitments to: 

• Develop appropriate community engagement and development systems to prioritize support for sustainable development, including; equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities. 

We support local social and economic development in three key ways: Hiring form the local community, prioritizing local suppliers, and the support we provide for community projects, and initiatives. Our approach to Community Investment and Development is overseen by our Vice President, Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability, who is supported at group level by our CSR Manager, and at operational level by dedicated site CSR and Community Relations. 

Hiring Locally

For local communities, employment opportunities are a primary benefit of our presence. Hiring workers from the communities nearest our mines and the countries we operate in is one of the most important contributions we make to social and economic development. We strive to maximize local hiring at all our operations. Our approach varies based on the cultural and geographic context of each site. 

At all our mines we strive to recruit wherever possible from the communities nearest the mine. If we are unable to find the appropriate skills or qualifications within these communities, we look to the wider region and neighbouring provinces, before looking to national employees and ultimately expatriates. We also provide skills development programmes for our workers, contractors, and local communities to help them develop the skills needed to work on the mine.

2020 Local and Regional Employment (Employees)

2020 Local and Regional Employment (Contractor)

“I want Çöpler to be a place where everyone local and non-local wants to work, to gain experience and to see what good looks like.” – Burhanettin Sahin, Deputy Country Manager Çöpler Mine.

The Çöpler Mine in Turkey has set particular specific targets for local and in-country employees; aiming to hire 90% of our unskilled workers from communities ; 80% of semi-skilled workers from communities; and; 80% of our skilled workers from Turkey. At Marigold, a significant majority of the workforce are residents of Nevada. At Seabee, five local communities (as defined by their proximity to the site) are the focus of hiring efforts. Puna Operations has defined 14 local communities based on their proximity to the site.

Prioritizing Local Suppliers

We recognize our supply chain can act as a massive lever to multiply the economic benefits of our presence. Like our hiring strategy, our procurement processes prioritize local companies. In 2020, 91% of our total procurement spend was with local and national suppliers.

Investing in Local Community Projects

Each year we contribute to the development of our local communities by making direct investments in community infrastructure, and social programs.

2020 Community Investment

Çöpler

 In 2020 we provided 133 scholarships to local community members. These ranged from providing scholarships to vocational high school students to support study towards a Master’s degree. Scholarships were awarded equally between men and women. Çöpler also provides support to the University lab and Kindergarten in Erzincan.

Marigold

 We focus our funding in key areas that support our initiatives that are important to our surrounding communities. In addition to funding various initiatives, the mine has been contributing to the University of Nevada, Reno since 2012 through royalties. Marigold has also provided 29 scholarships including 14 to women. Recipients were dependents of Marigold employees and students from local communities. Through the Colorado School of Mines, we provide each year a Women in Mining Scholarship by SSR Mining to support a female mine engineering student advance her career. 

Puna

In rural Jujuy near our Puna operations, we partner with local schools to improve educational outcomes. Since 2012 we have supported the renovation of six local schools. In collaboration with the Argentina Ministry of Education we helped to create a program to enable community members, including our employees to complete their secondary education. In 2020, ten scholarships were awarded in the Pirquitas jurisdiction, the evaluation of a further 9 is underway in Rinconada, following COVID-19 related delays.

Seabee

We fund a breakfast program in the Gorden Deny School in the nearby town of La Ronge, in partnership with the Breakfast Club of Canada. This program provides a nutritious breakfast in an inclusive caring environment for more than 200 students. In 2020 we provided a total of 12 scholarships, including eight to women. Two of these scholarships were provided to children of our employees.