Sustainability

At Rice Lake we are bringing new life to a region with a mining history that dates back to 1911. We are exploring new, historically underexplored areas, with the goal of building a world-class gold camp.

This new operation will be in every sense a 21st century mine built on a foundation of sustainability.

As we explore and develop the property, sustainability – of our people, the environment, and local communities – is at the core of our strategy for success.

Our Pillars of Sustainability

• People: We are creating a safety-first culture, where worker safety is protected through training, technology, and relentless commitment. We focus on identifying risks early, and mitigating them by building systems and developing skills in our people. Our safety focus extends to our employees’ homes and communities, as we strive to keep people healthy through the COVID-19 pandemic and afterward.
• Environment: We are designing every aspect of our operation to minimize our environmental impact. Clean hydro-electric power is the primary source of reliable power for our operations. We have completed a detailed safety assessment of our tailings management area, and developed updated procedures that adhere to the latest requirements for safety and stewardship.
• Community: We are actively involved in local communities and maintain strong community relationships in this traditional mining region. The great majority of our employees are from neighbouring communities, including many Indigenous employees. We provide opportunities for local communities through employment and investment—we source our services and supplies locally and contribute to the region’s long-term sustainability.
• Governance: Our experienced Board of Directors focuses on protecting all stakeholders. Our policies are guided by our beliefs, focusing on a strong corporate ethic with an established code of conduct, an open and safe working environment providing opportunities to all, and a sharp focus on the safety and health our employees and surrounding communities.

Protecting Our People

For 1911 Gold Corp, health and safety is the number one priority. Our success as a company depends on our people—from our policies in hiring to our care and consideration for their well-being. As we establish a trained and committed workforce, we are building a work culture where people feel safe—because they are safe on the job. With thorough training, stringent policies and procedures, and reliable tools and technology, we are establishing an operation where people can have a long, rewarding career in a progressive mining company. Safety statistics are a key measurement of our success in operations, forming the foundation for performance measurement and the largest factor in executive remuneration. Our commitment to safety is understood among local communities, including Indigenous communities, whose trust is central to their support.

Supporting a tolerant, diverse workplace

We maintain a healthy and supportive work environment that respects all people, regardless of age, gender, culture, or customs. We strive to create a diverse and tolerant working environment with fairness, integrity and respect for human rights.

Safeguarding the Environment

The Rice Lake property is being developed—from the outset—for minimal environmental impact, and maximum transparency in operation.

• An underground operation (historical and planned) with a small surface footprint and minimal disturbance to the surrounding environment
• Hydroelectricity provides the primary source of reliable energy to the operations, and we will seek to include clean electricity in any plans for future developments, instead of carbon-intensive power.
• We use well-established procedures for monitoring and reporting our air and water quality. Our comprehensive Environmental Emergency Response Plan is tested and updated annually.
• Over the past year we have carried out a detailed safety assessment of our tailings management area, based on current guidelines in the 2019 Canadian Dam Association Guidelines for Mining Dams, 2020 International Council of Mining and Metals Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, and 2017 Mining Association of Canada (MAC) Guidelines.
• In conjunction with the tailings safety assessment, we developed and implemented a detailed Operations, Maintenance, and Surveillance Manual that follows the 2019 Canadian Dam Association Guidelines for Mining Dams, 2020 International Council of Mining and Metals Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, and 2017 Mining Association of Canada (MAC) Guidelines.
• 1911 Gold is an active member of the Mining Association of Manitoba. We follow all current guidelines in the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative and follow them whenever practicable.

Working with Local Communities

The Rice Lake area has been an active mining region since 1911. Mining is familiar and welcome—in fact, some local communities were originally built to support the mine, and much of the existing infrastructure arose from mining activities at Rice Lake. Today we are a major employer and contributor to the area’s social and economic development. Our contributions will only grow as the mine approaches commercial operation. We aim to create real, lasting and tangible benefits for the people whose lives our operations touch.

• We hire and source locally: the majority of our workforce and our suppliers are from surrounding communities or within the region, contributing to a prosperous community and a skilled workforce.
• We maintain strong relations with Indigenous communities and have a designated representative to maintain open communications, and ongoing channels to update Indigenous communities on activities and opportunities.
• We support local sports and culture: we sponsor fishing derbies, hockey and curling teams, and curling bonspiels that bring curlers from across the country.
• We support community infrastructure in many ways, from donating the use of heavy equipment to offload chemicals for the water treatment plant, to donating our electricians to maintain the town’s power system.

Ethical, Transparent Governance

We are committed to acting with integrity and openness, holding ourselves to a higher standard and maintaining strict guidelines for governance, ethics, reporting and transparency. We have established policies and procedures based on our core beliefs which meet and exceed the requirements for a company at our stage of development, as we firmly believe they will bring us to the next level more quickly, and safer. As our exploration projects advance towards commercial production, the standards we hold ourselves to will increase—and we expect to increase the depth and frequency of our reporting to answer the concerns of all stakeholders.

Even though 1911 Gold has refocused the property on exploration, Rice Lake’s long history comes with a significant responsibility to our community and province. We will continue to uphold the strong history of discovery and development at Rice Lake while adhering to the highest standards for ethical behaviour and regulation. We are reviewing the evolving industry standards for measurement and plan to adopt those standards in future reporting. The skills to meet these requirements are largely in place already and we continue to invest in people and resources to support these activities.