Environment

Through our extensive engagement processes, we know our stakeholders are highly concerned about our role as corporate responsible citizens with respect to environmental stewardship and compliance.

Environmental compliance is of critical importance to the way we work. We comply with all environmental laws and regulations in Ghana and seek to augmenting these with appropriate international guidelines and best practice environmental management. The AGM achieved a 90%+ score on its 2019 annual independent environmental audit through the Ghanaian Minerals Commission (MinCom), reflecting our overarching effective environmental operations management.

We also follow the IFC Performance Standards, an international benchmark for identifying and managing environmental risks and a key component of our environmental risk management.

Our practices are also aligned with the World Bank Environment, Health, and Safety General and Mining Guidelines and the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, as well as the International Cyanide Management Code.

The Galiano Gold Environmental Policy embodies our commitment to responsible environmental management and our Human Rights Policy further articulates that the Company will engage with host communities regarding potential environmental impacts of our business activities.  

We are working towards external certification of Our Ghana operations to ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, ensuring that the systems and processes which we apply to our key operating asset are consistently maintained.

In the rapidly changing world we live in, making a positive contribution to communities requires all of us to pull in the same direction and to be bold in ensuring that how we operate helps, rather than hinders, in addressing the big societal challenges we all face. Without question, climate change is chief amongst those global challenges.

We are of firm belief that reducing our GHG emissions is not only the right thing to do but it also makes business sense. Galiano is committed to manage, minimize and mitigate its environmental impacts, including operational aspects related to climate change adaptation.

Our direct GHG emissions (Scope 1) are predominantly generated from energy consumed by mobile sources (94%), with additional emissions generated by onsite generator use (3%) and processing materials (3%). Indirect GHG emissions (Scope 2) are associated with the energy purchased from the Ghana electric grid and are currently disproportionally high, reflecting our contractual obligation of the AGM to use electricity from carbon-based generation sources.

As part of our climate change adaptation planning, the Asanko Gold Mine commissioned a detailed study during the reporting period to investigate opportunities to reduce our contribution to GHGs. We are in the process of evaluating the alternatives proposed to transition a significant portion of our energy inputs to non-fossil fuel energy sources.

Climate related risk identification and management is increasingly integrated into decision-making and our existing working practices and our ambition is to further develop our climate-related goals in the future. We have plans to mitigate climate risks by ensuring that extreme weather conditions are considered in our emergency response plans; this includes our mine contingency plans and engineering parameters.

Galiano seeks to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment and to raise environmental awareness amongst its employees, contractors and suppliers. We have an Environmental Policy which sets out its commitment to environmental protection, reduction of emissions and waste and efficient consumption of resources such as energy and water.

We are seeking to improve our practices accordingly in order to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions and are currently focused on better understanding our Scope 3 emissions to integrate these into our climate change strategy and reporting. Our GHG emission forecast is under review, and we look forward to providing more information in future.

Our overall energy consumption in 2020 was 1,828.24 TJ (2019 - 1,476 TJ), of which diesel use accounted for roughly three quarters or 1,375.18 TJ (2019 - 1,054 TJ) (Scope 1).   Energy consumption from purchased electricity in 2020 accounted for the remaining 453.06 TJ (2019 - 423 TJ) (Scope 2).

We are committed to reducing water consumption where possible, as set out in its Environmental Policy.

While water quantity is not an urgent issue in the Ashanti Region and our specific area of operations at the Asanko Gold Mine, water quality is. There are many activities in the region, including natural mineral leaching and illegal mining, which impact water quality.

Although we do not discharge any process water into the environment, in the event of an emergency (a 100- year storm event for example), it is important that process water be of a quality that if it were to be released, would not be problematic. We are therefore building a water treatment plant at Esaase to deal with contamination, specifically arsenic, and impurities to meet or exceed regulatory discharge levels.

Our commitment to the responsible management of mineral waste and other waste products is set out in our Environmental Policy. The Asanko Gold Mine has a comprehensive Waste Management Plan in place with detailed practices to address the different waste types generated at the mine, and includes the identification of opportunities for waste minimization, recycling, and re-use. Its aim is to prevent, reduce, recycle or use waste as an energy source, before selecting safe disposal as an option.

Tailings Management

The Asanko Gold Mine has one Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) serving the entire mine operation, designed to store a total of 95 million metric tonnes (MMT) over the life of mine, with the ability to expand to 120 MMT. In 2020, 5.983 Mt (dry) of tailings material were deposited in the TSF. Significant attention has been paid to rigorous safety management: The TSF was constructed and is HDPE lined in accordance with Ghanaian Minerals Commission Grade II Hazardous Waste Standards to ensure surrounding land and groundwater are not at risk of contamination. The TSF is inspected daily for signs of stress or damage and to ensure structural integrity and is audited quarterly by independent third-party consultants in accordance with Ghanaian regulations.

Biodiversity is inextricably linked to the livelihoods and well-being of people in the communities surrounding the Asanko Gold Mine operations. As an environmentally conscious company, Galiano is committed to meet or exceed environmental legislation, regulations, industry standards, and wherever possible, to adopt best industry practices to manage our ecological footprint.

In order to ensure that we address both operational and closure aspects of biodiversity across all sites, as part of the Asanko Gold Mine Biodiversity Implementation Plan, we regularly conduct comprehensive baseline assessments of flora and fauna. The assessments include compiling information on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The conservation status of species according to both IUCN Red List and/or national Ghana Wildlife Conservation Regulation found in the general mine area includes:

• Two bird species are classified as Endangered and Critically Endangered, 11 are wholly protected and 13 are partially protected.
• Two reptiles under national law; one fully protected and one partially protected.
• Under national law, two mammal species are wholly protected and five are partially protected. All seven mammal species are classified as Least Concern according to the IUCN.

Seven plant species were listed on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable.