Sustainability Policy

Our Sustainability Policy

Fresnillo plc creates value to society through a responsible mining approach, respecting human rights and the legal framework. Our Integrated Health, Safety, Environment and Community Relations (HSECR) Management System is the reference framework to comply with legal and other requirements, to adopt best practices, to set objectives and continuous improvement. Our people are our most valuable asset and therefore we are committed to provide safe and healthy working conditions, addressing their concerns and involving them in our risk and hazard identification, measurement and control processes.  We are committed to biodiversity protection, water stewardship and responsible management of waste, chemical substances and air emissions. Our activities must be conducted minimising the adverse effects to communities. We are convinced of the importance of generating mutual benefit relations with communities, based on dialogue and respect to their values and customs. Our social projects are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

General Guidelines

Health 

  

Our people are our most valuable asset. The health and wellbeing of our workers is key to protecting their safety and driving the company’s productivity. We recognise that the health of our employees is an essential component of our social licence to operate.

Key Elements 

  

  • Compliance with all applicable health regulations

  • Limiting new cases of occupational diseases

  • Pre-emptively identifying and managing the health risks

  • Providing preventive care and promoting healthier lifestyles

  • Emergency preparedness as a core competence of all our health teams

  • Working with authorities and supporting health initiatives in communities where we operate

  • Promotion of our health practices with contractors and suppliers

Safety 

  

Safety is a core value to Fresnillo plc and way of life. We aspire to achieve a safety culture where our employees and contractors have the knowledge, competence and desire to work safely.

Key Elements 

  

  • Compliance with all applicable safety regulations

  • Promotion of a safe workplace

  • Elimination of fatal injuries

  • Enforcement of Rules that Save Lives, regarding which there is a zero tolerance approach to deviations

  • Engagement of our operational managers, union leaders and their local chapters

  • Reinforcing safety awareness and development of personal safety skills

  • Investigation of accidents comprehensively in order to prevent similar cases

  • Implementation of international best practices to handle and use cyanide safely

  • Ensuring the availability of emergency response plans

  • Applying our safety practices with contractors and suppliers

Environment 

  

Minimising the impact of our activities, as well as being accountable and transparent regarding our environmental footprint, are crucial to earning and maintaining our social licence to operate.

Key Elements 

  

  • Compliance with all applicable environmental regulations

  • Reduction of our carbon footprint through energy efficiency measures

  • Implementation of sound measures to safeguard biodiversity in our projects

  • Ensuring  no affectation of biodiversity

  • Responsible water use, recognizing its social, environmental and economic value

  • Managing in a responsible way our mineral and non-mineral waste

  • Implementation of international best practices to handle and use cyanide  

  • Promoting our environmental policy and practices with contractors and suppliers

  • Informing and collaborating with authorities, communities and other stakeholders when environmental incidents occur

  • Working with stakeholders to develop a mutual understanding of environmental issues

Community Relations

  

Our communities are strategic partners. Earning their trust requires effectively engaging them and being accountable for our actions. We recognise that building trust is the only way to earn and preserve our social licence to operate.

Key Elements 

  

  • Listening and engaging host communities

  • Promotion of social and economic development

  • Supporting education, health, water access and capacity building

  • Respect of human rights

  • Considering the values and concerns of Indigenous People

  • Identifying and managing social impacts

  • Addressing community grievances in a fair and timely manner

  • Evaluating the perception of communities and seeking to continually improve our performance

  • Preparing communities in anticipation of the closure of our operations

Labor and Human Rights 

  

Our people are our most valuable asset. We aspire to an organisational culture based on trust, which is the single most important characteristic of great places to work.

Key Elements 

  

  • Demonstrate a well-established ethical culture through our actions and behaviors

  • Promoting fair employment practices

  • Ensuring that our collaborators and personnel are treated fairly and with dignity

  • Making sure that the workplace is free from all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation

  • Respecting the rights of employees to freedom of expression, association and collective bargaining

  • Prohibiting child and forced labour at our operations

  • Encouraging diversity

  • Promoting our labour and human rights practices with contractors and suppliers

 

Note: The Board has reviewed and approved this Policy. The HSECR Committee is responsible for reviewing this Policy, updating this Policy as required and reporting to the Board on its effectiveness. This Policy was modified Feb 2019.