Shout out to our Essakane mine in Burkina Faso for holding a biodiversity management and mining rehabilitation session with our closest stakeholders in the country. The purpose of this day-long event was to get feedback on our approach from our communities and discuss practical actions we are taking at the site to preserve the local biodiversity.
The meeting was held by our local Health, Safety & Sustainable Development Team and presided over by Frank Napon, its director. The session brought together heads of regional and provincial technical services from the Ministries of Agriculture and Hydro-agricultural Development, and the Environment, community leaders from nearby villages as well as researchers from the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research.
The team focused on presenting our company’s overall commitment to preserving biodiversity and our 2023 performance in this respect. Participants had the opportunity to tour the mine site to see first-hand the initiatives we’ve put in place to preserve the local biodiversity.
These initiatives include:
- The creation of a water retention pond to host fish.
- Land rehabilitation through the planting of seedlings as well as hydroseeding – a technique creating dense and diverse vegetation welcoming for wildlife and the development of a new ecosystem.
Seedlings that help grow the local economy
One hundred per cent of the seedlings planted as part of our reforestation initiatives are grown locally. Seventy per cent are grown in the nurseries of the nearby villages of Marganta, Petabarabé Seno as well as in the nursery of the Provincial Directorate of the Environment of Falagountou. The remaining 30 per cent are grown directly at the Essakane mine, which has its own nursery. Prioritizing local production helps maintain vibrant supply chains and foster local employment.
“I would like to thank IAMGOLD for holding such a worthwhile meeting and would like to congratulate the company for the biodiversity preservation projects it has initiated. Preserving biodiversity is of critical importance to Sahel. I recommend strengthening communication with stakeholders so we can further coordinate actions on the ground,” says Dramane Fogo, Regional Director of Environment, Water and Sanitation for the Sahel region in Burkina Faso.
“Demonstrating progress to our key stakeholders is central to our sustainability approach at IAMGOLD. To maintain our license to operate, we believe it is important that we take the time to show our stakeholders what we do to mitigate our impact on the environment, how we do it and how we could do it together,” says Aaron Steeghs, VP of Health & Safety, Environment and Communities at IAMGOLD.