SAFE, INCLUSIVE & INNOVATIVE OPERATIONS

Protecting the health and safety of our employees, contractors, suppliers and communities is our first priority and a cornerstone of our operating philosophy. We are focused on driving an engaged safety-first culture, as part of our commitment to eliminating fatalities, serious injuries and occupational diseases.

High-risk and safety-sensitive activities are identified in our Golden Rules Health & Safety Handbook, which provides requirements for health and safety risk identification and management. Every person entering one of our sites – employees, contractors, visitors or otherwise – is required to carry a copy of the Golden Rules Health & Safety Handbook.

Health and safety risks that may cause disease and injury related to work activities are addressed in our health and safety risk register. We continue to use our Golden Rules Health & Safety Handbook to facilitate on-field discussions and engagement around critical controls.

By planning for emergencies, we identify, prioritize and implement controls for potential hazards at our sites. Emergency plans help to safeguard our people, the environment and local communities. Emergency response programs are in place across our operations. Our emergency response teams comprise employees with additional training in emergency protocols, procedures and equipment. The emergency response programs include extensive emergency drills and training, such as mine rescue drills, fire drills, CPR first-aid training and training in the use of hazardous materials suits and other safety equipment. Our operating regions also have crisis management plans in place and are working to ensure consistency with Mining Association of Canada’s TSM Crisis Management and Communications Planning Protocol.

Our emergency response teams also maintain close working relationships with community-based emergency responders and provide additional support and resources to them in the event of a serious off-site incident. In cases of natural disasters and irregular weather events, such as floods and forest fires, which may become more frequent due to climate change, our emergency responders are prepared to assist community-based response teams to protect our workers, assets and neighbours. 

We believe diverse and inclusive teams are a competitive advantage for Eldorado. We recognize and seek to foster diversity of identity and cognitive diversity across our organization. This includes gender, race, ethnicity, language, sexual preference, geography, religion, disability, age and any other demographic characteristics that, in combination, define our sense of individual identity.

Cognitive diversity is also essential in mining, which often requires specialized skills and expertise; this form of diversity includes our background, acquired skills, knowledge, experiences and other attributes that influence our thinking, decision-making and performance. Actively including diverse people, perspectives and ideas is critical to our business and our ability to create shared value.

Diversity in Leadership

Eldorado’s Diversity Policy was last updated in 2023, including aspirational targets to:

• Maintain a minimum of 30% women directors on our Board;
• Maintain a minimum of 30% women on our senior management team;
• Maintain at least an additional 10% of directors on our Board be represented by one or more designated groups (beyond women) as defined in the policy; and
• Maintain at least an additional 10% of our senior management team be represented by one or more designated groups (beyond women) as defined in the policy.

We define designated groups as women, Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), visible minorities, persons with disabilities and LGBTQIA2S+. We first exceeded our aspirational targets at the Board level as of April 2023.

Inclusive Diversity in Our Workforce

Everywhere we operate, we seek to provide opportunities for people of diverse ages, genders and cultural backgrounds. We recognize our industry can do more to attract and retain women, in particular. We are committed to fostering opportunities for women to enter the mining industry and continue to work to develop opportunities for women across our organization.

In 2024, our female hire rate was 21% across our global operations, resulting in a steady female representation in our workforce of 13%. We continue to actively work on strengthening a number of talent recruitment and retention programs across the regions in which we work, including identifying and addressing opportunities to reduce bias in the hiring process; proactively enhancing how we look for diverse talent through posting platforms, hiring agencies and partners, such as International Women in Mining and other programs targeting women in STEM; and laying the groundwork to provide future opportunities for international recruitment of women. This is a direct reflection of our commitment to supporting gender diversity and fostering employment opportunities for women in mining.

Innovation and technology are essential parts of the mining industry and a key part of our work. From exploration to sustainability, our foundation in innovation and dedication to finding a better way to do things drives our work around the world.

Technology and Innovation to Improve Health and Safety

As part of our continuous improvement efforts, we study the use of new technologies that can help our workers accomplish tasks more safely and reduce the risk of harm to people and the environment. In our underground mines at Efemçukuru, Olympias and the Lamaque Complex, innovations in underground communications technology have allowed us to implement tagging and tracking technology for our equipment and our workers. Employees are provided with transmitters to ensure everyone can be accounted for, even when working in areas of restricted visibility. This technology reduces the risk of collisions and helps our workers avoid mobile machinery.

Improving Tailings Safety

Our tailings management facilities at Efemçukuru in Türkiye and Kokkinolakkas (used by Olympias) in Greece make use of filtered tailings. This technology removes excess water from tailings materials and allows for a more stable, dried material to be stored. Filtered tailings are also permitted and planned for use at the Skouries Project. Safely managing tailings by using leading technologies, as well as strong management and governance practices, is a key component of managing and mitigating risks related to mine waste. More information about filtered tailings can be found in the Tailings Management section of this report.

Electrifying our Underground Fleet

In 2023, we introduced our first electric ore haul truck at our underground Lamaque Complex. The Lamaque Complex commissioned and began operating its first Sandvik TH550B electric haul truck in December 2023–a first in Québec. An additional electric haul truck was delivered in the first quarter of 2024, and once fully operational, the trucks are expected to mitigate up to 1,700 tCO₂e of GHG emissions per year. In addition to near-zero operating emissions, due to low-carbon hydroelectricity in Québec, the trucks are expected to improve underground air quality.

Tele-remote Technology Boosts Safety and Production

We use several types of tele-remote equipment at our operations that help keep operators safe and improve productivity. At our underground mines, operators remain on the surface while tele-remote equipped machinery works below. At our open pit mine, operators remain outside the pit. In 2024, we began implementing a remote mucking program at our Olympias mine to improve mine safety and productivity following successful implementation of similar technology at our Lamaque Complex. Remote mucking makes use of video and automative technology to operate underground loaders from an above ground control room.

Learn more about our use of tele-remote technology.

In partnership with the NeuroLeadership Institute, we apply tools and training backed by neuroscience to help leaders practice inclusion, speak up productively and mitigate bias.

We are a proud sponsor of Artemis Project, an organization that brings together women-led businesses related to mining to accelerate collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship for better business outcomes.

Eldorado is proud to be a Silver Partner of International Women in Mining (IWiM) as part of our commitment to foster career and leadership opportunities for women in our workforce.

We have been working to speak openly and destigmatize mental health through “Not Myself Today."

Eldorado is a participant in SHARE, a European Union sponsored project focused on promoting gender equality, inclusive culture and work-life balance.