The Goldcorp Water Strategy

Jan 14, 2015 8:00 PM ET

Goldcorp 2013 Sustainability Report

Goldcorp is committed to the efficient use of natural resources and to conducting our business to the highest standards of environmental management and performance, striving to go beyond regulatory compliance and lead with industry best practices.    Goldcorp recognizes water management as a significant concern shared by the company and our stakeholders. Optimizing water management can help to ensure water security and production, reduce costs, reduce impacts, improve operational excellence, and address stakeholder concerns. External stakeholders such as local communities, government and non-governmental organizations, shareholders, institutional investors, and financial institutions, combined with stricter regulatory standards, will continue to challenge the company to operate to higher and more effective water management standards.   For these reasons, Goldcorp developed a Water Stewardship Strategy during the second half of 2013 to achieve the following objectives:
  • Continuous improvement of potential impacts to water both within and outside the mine boundary.
  • Improved security of water supply by mapping watershed risks in our operating environments to provide a competitive advantage.
  • Minimized financial risk and costs by applying rigour to the management of water consumption, transport, treatment and discharge.
  • Enhanced growth opportunities by managing water as a strategic asset to provide a competitive edge for access to new reserves.
  • Increased accuracy of budgeting and execution and increased effectiveness working with regulatory and stakeholder challenges by inclusion of water risk assessments as part of Enterprise Risk Management.
  • Increased accuracy in planning and performance by providing tools for long-term water management.
  • Increased professional growth of staff by exposure to new and changing solutions, processes and technology.
  • Enhanced appeal to the investment community by verifiably and transparently reporting progress against established milestones.
  • Elevated reputation and improved stakeholder relationships and support by proactively leading engagement on water matters.
Goldcorp recognizes the importance of establishing and implementing a Water Stewardship Strategy due to the increasing value of water as a shared resource. Goldcorp’s mines have established a schedule for implementing the required milestones to achieve the objectives and future reports will discuss the status of these milestones.   Learn more about Goldcorp's environmental stewardship approach in the 2013 Sustainability Report: http://csr.goldcorp.com/2013/6_environmental.php