Morning webinar for its 2020 Sustainability Development Report. All attendees are in a listen only mode. I will now hand over to Perseus Mining's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Quartermaine, who is joined by the company's Group Sustainability Manager, Jessica Volich. Thank you, Jeff.
Good. Well, thanks, Nathan, and welcome everyone to this webinar to discuss Perseus Mining's 2020 Sustainability report that was released to the by the ASX to the market early yesterday morning. Now before handing over to my colleague, Jessica, Our General Manager, Sustainability and Prime Author of the 2020 Sustainability Report will take you through the highlights of the document and then be available to answer any questions that you may have. Allow me first to give you some context Now as many of you would know, Perseus is an ASX listed gold mining company. These operating activities are all carried out in the West African countries of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire where we have 3 producing Gold mines and conduct exploration on a range of sites.
We started building our first mine Edikan in Ghana In 2010 and have since developed and commissioned 2 further mines to Ssinghee and Yaori both in Cote D'ivoire. So in the space of 10 years, we've transformed from being a junior explorer, firstly to a mining Formed from being a junior explorer, firstly to a mining company with a single mine in a single country and then to a multi mine, multi jurisdictional business that we are today. Now, the business that we are today. Now the relevance of this history is that ever since we started exploring on the ground in West Africa, We've been very conscious of the fact that we are guests in the countries and the communities where we operate and that a continuous focus on sustainable operations And value creation is key to our strong social license to operate in these places. Now Sustainability has been one of our guiding principles right from the get go, and we've continuously sought to create sustainable value for all stakeholders And to improve our environmental, social and government performance each year.
To To say that our journey to date has been plain sailing would be an overstatement. We've been striving with a reasonable degree of success to achieve these aims On a consistent basis for many years. What we have not done as well though, as well as we might, is to share our story with our broader stakeholder base. Last year, we published our 1st consolidated sustainability report, which was really our first step towards consolidating all of the work that we do across our business And this was quite important as we're in the process of building the Aori mine and in the process expanding our business by 50 from 2 operating mines to 3. And the very first thing we did was we recognized that we needed a very high quality ESG professional to help guide our work through this area.
And we hired Jessica, I'm very pleased to say, who has Actually been on board and given a huge amount of impetus to this initiative. And also with the commissioning of the of Yay Ori, which consolidated our position as a Malimine Malim jurisdictional business, We recognize the need to integrate our sustainability efforts right across our business and to align our disclosure with the Expectations of our stakeholders which have clearly changed in recent years. Now this report that was published yesterday, it demonstrates the outcome of that work Providing detailed about our approach to sustainability in line with key frameworks and gives a clear view on how we're performing. It's hoped that by Presenting the details in the manner that we have not only in the report itself but also in the accompanying data tables, You'll gain a much better appreciation of the ESG journey that we've been on today, the results that we've achieved and the plans that we have to improve our performance going forward. So with that background, let me now pass the ball to Jess, who will take you through the highlights of the report.
Thanks, Jess.
Thanks very much, Geoff. Thank you. As Geoff said, I'm Jessica Bolich, the Group Manager for Sustainability here at Perseus. I just want to say thanks to everyone for attending today. We're really pleased to see the interest from our investment community, And we're really looking forward to hearing your questions and your feedback on our work.
So today, I really want to take you through the work that we've done over the past 2 months to get really clear about our approach to sustainability and also how we're performing and where to from here on our sustainability journey. So one of the first activities that we kicked off to reboot our sustainability strategy Was to refresh our materiality analysis and really dig deeper on our sustainability risks and opportunities. We engaged sustainability and climate change risk team from KPMG, and worked together with them to do a really detailed desktop Our review of all the past environmental and social impact assessments, the performance reports, audit reports, monitoring data, as well as Information from stakeholder engagement with our communities, with our governments, with our investment community, as well as interviewing people from across our organization, from board down to supervisor level, with a focus on the people That are really on the frontline and at the front of our operations. So as part of that also, we did extensive peer review, comparing our approach and our performance to a group of about 10 companies with similar operating conditions in West Africa, ranging in different sizes. And then we consolidated all of that information and put it together to repeat our sustained materiality analysis from last year and came together as an executive team and mapped all of the issues, from or importance in terms of Priority to our business, which you can see along the x axis on this figure and also priority to our stakeholders.
So when combined, this provides a really clear view of what our top issues are at the moment, with the most important issues on the top right. So these are communities business continuity, which is associated with COVID, especially health, safety and well-being and tailings. I just want to reiterate that all of the issues on this slide are really important to Perseus and our business, and all are being actively managed as Part of our sustainability work program, but this matrix really is a tool to clearly define what the issues are that are top of mind and also helps us do our work Planning and set our strategy for the years ahead, but we'll be reviewing and updating this work on a yearly basis to see how these issues shift from year to year. As part of our materiality analysis, we also set about Renewing our sustainability vision for the business and also consolidating and getting much clearer about our approach to sustainability. And this is really summarized on this slide here.
On the top left, you'll see our sustainability vision statement, which is really highly influenced by the location of our Operations in West Africa. There's significant levels of poverty that remain in both Ghana and Cote D'ivoire with Ghana around 20%, Quite deep, we're around 40% to 50% and particularly in rural areas where we operate. So through our social development and local Employment programs over the years in these countries, we've really been able to see the material benefits that we've made to the lives of our communities. And that's why it's to the vision that we have for sustainability for the business. So some of these benefits, include, for example, that the communities around our operations now have much Easier access to fresh drinking water, which is a major cause of disease and hardship in the region.
They've also got better access to healthcare, which is Important given the range of health challenges faced by people in the region with diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV. And also improved access to education through building school infrastructure and providing school supplies. And then, of course, there's the direct jobs and also the enterprise development. We're really proud that 96% of our employees are now either local to our local communities or national to the country with our operation. And 78% of our procurement is from our host countries, which really Gives us the opportunity to amplify the benefits of our presence in those countries.
So it's really a win win. As we improve the quality of life of our communities, we're also improving the productivity and the stability of our operations. We also, as part of the work, set to provide a much clearer framework of how we achieve our vision, which is summarized in the blue And gray wheel there. And at the core of the foundation of this approach is strong governance, which enables us to drive performance in our material sustainability issues. So, in terms of This vision and our approach to sustainability, the performance pillars that you see in the middle circle there Really the tools by which we drive performance in sustainability and material issues are around the outside of that wheel.
And we've deliberately not separated them into environmental, social and governance issues because in our operating context and where we operate, each of these issues has Both the environmental and social and a governance element. So I think it's this represents within our operating context a strong Social element of all of our issues, and it really provides us an opportunity to contribute to the United Nations' sustainable development goals of those countries. So in terms of the sustainable development report this year, one thing we really wanted to do was to provide a really, really clear and comprehensive view of our approach to sustainability and also our performance and communicate that in a way that could be clearly understood by all our stakeholders. So to do this, we aligned our report with Some key reporting frameworks with reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals And also heavily leaned on the World Gold Council responsible gold mining principle. There's a framework and a structure.
And also Did our 1st task force on climate related financial disclosures report. In terms of the data, we used The global reporting initiative as our main framework, but also mapped to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board framework. And we took it a step further as well and really wanted to see a map In our reporting, where we'll be heading in the future and start to be clear on where we're at with a broader range of frameworks that are out there. So you'll see in our data book that we've mapped also to the EQUATOR principles, the International Finance Corporation for performance standards And also the more recently released World Economic Forum International Business Council Metrics, which really is a good step in the direction of establishing a common set of I think our conclusion from this work was that we're really not that far off best practice in our approach So that brings me to the key achievements and our highlights for calendar year 2020. One of the things that was really pleasing when we consolidated our performance data across the group, where there was some really great performance highlights.
Clearly, operationally, the business We've maintained a track record of being fatality free since the start of our company, and we've also further improved our injury rates. We have a good track record on environmental events, disclosure on tailings, and we've had no tailings failures to date. And we're also tracking well on water intensity in comparison to our peers. Our social performance has been very strong and it's probably a highlight. We're really proud that, as I said, 78% of our procurement is from either local sources or nationally sourced.
And we have now achieved 96% local and national employment at our operations. So also Adding to that, our social investment and the social development we have been able to deliver has grown as the company has grown as well. And I think this is our key opportunity as we go forward, to really get focused on aligning our economic and social contribution to these communities and countries where they need it most and partnering with our host governments to advance the United Nations' sustainable Development goals for each country. So just doing, I guess, in terms of climate change, The next two slides are a bit of a deeper dive on our task force on climate related financial disclosures report. Given the significance of this emerging issue and the increasing risk.
So there's no doubt that climate change will impact our organization, our stakeholders and the communities around our operations. And we're committed to understanding these impacts and understanding the risks. So on this slide, you'll see a very high level summary of Our physical and transitional risks that we have published in our report and how we're responding to these. And in terms of Physical risks in West Africa, like everywhere the climate is changing. And given the low historical variability of the Climate in that area and in that region, the most significant change is extreme weather with drought and flooding and other extreme events.
And I think that's been more dramatic because of the low variability that the area has seen in the past. So these weather changes are obviously already being felt. But in the context of our operations, our mine lives range from 5 to 8 years, which means they really will be completed by the time the more severe impacts of climate change are felt. But regardless, we still are actively monitoring and managing water related material risks at all of our operations. And we take these climatic changes into account in our closure planning as well.
We also, of course, plan to be around as a company longer than 8 years. So, we consider these risks when looking at our medium to longer term Strategic planning. Moving on to transition risks of climate change for our business. Changing the climate and energy policy in West Africa is relatively new or just emerging. And there hasn't really been to this at this stage, carbon pricing or taxation Mechanism that has emerged even though we understand that these discussions are in progress and we're monitoring those developments.
In addition, gold has a relatively low carbon footprint in comparison to other mine products. And the downstream uses have Little material impact on its carbon footprint. In terms of markets, it's expected to remain quite stable during the transition. And there also may be opportunities for gold to play a role in low emissions technology. So we're monitoring the signposts and triggers for transition risk Ensure that we're ready to respond as they evolve.
Moving on to the next slide. In terms of our emissions, Our combined scope 1 and 2 emissions are around 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and scope 3 around 3,000,000 tonnes, so combined annual emissions of around 500,000 tonnes per annum. Our key emissions challenge is primarily from our use of diesel to generate power, but we do source some renewables where we're connected to the grid both at Yarra and Edikan. We've got various initiatives at our operations to track and improve fuel efficiency, which is also a significant cost driver for us. But also more broadly than that, power and energy security is a challenge in West Africa and renewable penetration is quite low at this time.
We are taking a fresh look at what might be possible there. And we're also looking at potential social co benefits that could be captured by participation in Offsets programs emerging in West Africa. We've benchmarked our emissions intensity against some of our peers, which you'll see on the right hand Line diagrams there. And we're generally performing lower than the average here. But we're taking into account our emissions during the construction of the ARI.
Operation in these numbers, which of course didn't produce any gold last year. So next year, we expect to be performing comparatively better on emissions intensity perspective. So the summary from in terms of climate change is that, of course, Climate change will impact our business and it's an issue and a risk that's top of mind for us. But I think in the context of the other Sustainability issues that we manage, for the next short term period, it is something that we're monitoring, and We're managing our more higher priority issues such as communities, health and safety tailings, and the economic benefit that we bring to our host country and seeing how that we can leverage those programs to have a role in the transition of our countries of operation. So in terms of the next step, which brings me to the last slide, and where to from here.
This year, for us in sustainability, it was really about taking stock and being clear where we're at and using the key frameworks to communicate that clearly and rebooting our sustainability vision and also our performance framework. Our focus has now really turned to where to from here and our 3 year roadmap, locking in our current performance, but then also working out how we're going to build on it. As part of that, we're committed to aligning our approach to sustainability with the World Gold Council responsible gold mining principles, which is a really good framework for the gold mining industry to manage the key risks and opportunities. And we'll have full implementation by end of year financial year 2023. So on this slide, you can see the GAAP analysis we've completed against the principles, which shows that we're starting from a pretty strong base.
We've got some work to do, but in general, we're starting from a strong position. A key area that we're looking at as part of our roadmap is how we can amplify our social value and really use our strong foundation to The benefits we bring to our community and supporting them to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals. We currently see this as our biggest opportunity and it's something that we're discussing in detail as we build our work plan. So to wrap up, I hope this gives you a clear picture of where Perseus is With sustainability, our approach and also our performance and where we're heading, the foundation that has been built so far today in the company is really strong. And I'm looking forward to updating you as we build on that in the years ahead.
And we'll be disclosing and talking more about our 3 year road map
Your first question comes From Andrew Oswald at Bell Potter, he says, There is a big difference between the 2019 2020 sustainability reporting. Why now? What has changed for the business in that time?
And Klimat just picked up on that. I think I've partially addressed that in my I mean, clearly, as far as Basis is concerned, we've transitioned in recent times, As I say, from a junior explorer through to a sustainable, significant sized business and it was quite important and apparent to us that we needed to align to the principles that have been set in the broader community. So that was something that was very important. And also the other point is that it's very, very clear that Our stakeholders are demanding that we do comply with these standards and express and inform them as to where we are. So It was pretty apparent that while we've made a good start in 2019, we needed to do better.
And as I said, bringing Jessica
Your next question comes from Andrew Livy at ABL Wealth. He asked, what is Perseus' forecast investment in new technologies to improve sustainability performance across the business? Jess?
Yes. Look, I think in terms of new technology, it's important to note that we're already performing really well. And this has been in part due to the technologies that we already have in place for things like water efficiency and water recycling and some of the other technology we have in place for fuel efficiency, for example. And I think driving our performance in the future is really going to be around social performance. I think in terms of automation and those sorts of issues, it's important that we consider the social benefit So, an operation like operations like Perseus has in West Africa in context.
One of the key ways that we Value is through employment. So I think that that's something that is top of mind when looking at new technologies that are emerging across the industry. We're currently preparing our 3 year roadmap and we're looking at different technologies for different energy sources, for example. And we'll talk about that more in our road mapping in our financial year 2021 report. But I think the focus for us, not so much is on technology, although that's part of it, is on social performance.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Rob McDizzy at UBS. He asks, To what extent do you consider climate change to be a risk to the company?
As I said in the couple of slides, In terms of physical risks, of course, the climate is changing and that is evidenced in West our water management program and also through our closure planning. But I think in terms of our portfolio, The mine lives that we have in our business plan at the moment range from 5 to 8 years. So they're a bit shorter dated Maybe than other companies. So within the context of our current business plan, the risk is medium to low. But Of course, there are the longer dated strategic decisions that we're making for the growth of the business, and they are Front of mind, and the different considerations and risks and opportunities that are there will depend on the opportunities that we capture, And all of them will have an element of physical and transition risk.
And I think as those plans develop and the nature of the risk and the risk exposure We'll determine the more detail that we go into in terms of assessing risk in terms of doing scenario analysis or other analysis. So at the moment, I think in our current concepts of our current business plan, the risk is relatively low. But of course, it's always going to be a key
Your next question comes from Lily Rogers. She asks, are there particular rules and standards you had to follow, include or comply with when making the report? Or is it Percier is focused and you had a lot more movement.
I think, we really did want to produce a GRI compliant report that was important to us. So in terms of the rules, I suppose the strongest one was making sure that we covered all of the requirements of both the GRI core option as well as the minerals and metals supplement. And then we made sure that we covered off on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board's key requirements as well, and covered off the requirements of the World Gold Council response Gold mining principles. So I think they were the 3 frameworks that were the key guiding frameworks for the report. But then we have Used and drawn on best practice frameworks as they applied to different, issues such as water.
We use the, the Australian Minerals Council Water Accounting Framework, for tailings we use the tailings disclosure framework. So there weren't any rules, but we really wanted to make sure that we responded to each issue and the report overall in terms of the best Practice framework that are available for both sustainability reporting and also the individual sustainability issues that are covered in the report.
I think it's also fair to say that we weren't driven by rules per se other than our own rule. And our own rule is that this is an important Part of our business because it's good for our business. It's good for our communities and therefore it's good for our business. And I think that was as much a driver in framing the Report as any regulatory or any framework that's been provided by any of The groups are around the fringes of this area.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this Time? So I'll hand back to Jeff and Jessica for closing remarks.
Okay. Well, look, thank you very much for attending today's presentation, We do appreciate your effort in attending. It's clearly we're on an exciting journey here and it is one that we as a company Are very strongly committed to, as I said, it's we're doing it for lots of reasons, but it's good for our business as at the core. And at the same time, we're seeing very significant benefits accruing to our host communities and host countries. So in that respect, this is a win win and it's something that we're very pleased to be a part of.
So thank you very much for joining us And we look forward to bringing you further news as our plans unfold in coming years. Thank you.