Toro Gold is fully committed to meeting International standards of good practice in the areas of social development, environmental protection and health safety and security. These issues are important to the company’s directors and employees, its investors and communities impacted by its activities.
Although currently principally an exploration company, Toro Gold intends to expand rapidly and to fully develop gold resources through to production and recognizes the need to adopt and apply standards and approaches which transcend the full development cycle. Some of these requirements will therefore only become applicable when Toro moves into the development, feasibility and operational stages for its assets.
Toro Gold has generally adopted the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation as an appropriate benchmark of International good practice. These are supplemented as required by reference to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. Toro Gold is also supportive of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Sustainable Development Framework and has been cognisant of its principles, as far as they can be applied at its current stage of development.
To support this commitment, Toro Gold has developed a Social and Environmental Performance Framework (“ESPF”), which will govern the way it operates with respect to these key issues. The framework includes a series of business principles and commitments which are an integral part of our business strategy. These are supported by a policy and set of performance standards which identify key management requirements during operations.
These commitments have the full support of the Toro Gold Board of Directors and are actively disseminated to employees through training and professional development. In order to implement and manage the ESPF, Toro Gold has appointed a dedicated team to oversee compliance with the framework across the company’s portfolio of projects.