Establishing positive and self-sustaining socio-economic conditions in the communities and regions where we operate is one of the cornerstones of our sustainability program. Our contributions to socio-economic development may come indirectly through government payments or directly through local hiring, the purchase of local goods and services, or our community investments. We also focus on opportunities that deliver shared value and meaningful community contributions after a mine has closed.
In 2021:
Centerra contributed $1.86 million to strategic social investment and donations at both operating sites.
Öksüt significantly increased its community investment, tripling the spend from $541,860 to $1.5 million.
Across our operations, strategic investment projects have included support for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development, community health, livelihood restoration projects, development of the agricultural sector, youth and educational programs, and environmental protection projects. Ongoing projects include, but are not limited to, community wellbeing, sustainable income opportunities and infrastructure improvement.
At Mount Milligan, a key responsibility of the Community Sustainability Committee (CSC) is to allocate funding provided through the Mount Milligan Community Project Fund. The fund provides one-time grants of up to C$10,000 to support local community-based organizations working to build capacity in one or more of the following priority areas: education and training, health, environment, community (including economic development) and literacy. Mount Milligan’s CSC meetings are documented, and minutes are publicly available here.
Five-Year Summary of Global Community Investments and Donations (USD)1
1 The 2020 figures include strategic community investments and donations across all our sites, including operations, care and maintenance projects, and development projects.
Mount Milligan also enters into strategic partnerships that contribute multi-year funding to local education and environmental initiatives. In 2018, Mount Milligan committed to three years of funding totalling C$45,000 to support a joint initiative between the local school district and the University of Northern British Columbia. The initiative will lead to the creation of an interactive, geospatial watershed portal and a series of co-learning activities for students, educators, and researchers, including more than 10 participating Indigenous groups. This partnership was continued in 2021 through the Centerra Gold Partners in Education Grant.
Through our strategic community investments, we seek to create capacity and self-sufficiency in the local community, which will help minimize dependency on the mining project. For example, the Alternative Feed Production Project at Öksüt produced an alternative feed that meets the needs of the region by establishing an animal feed factory that incorporates innovations. The nutritional value of the feed produced with this new technology will increase from 75% to 97% and farmers will directly benefit from the reduced feed costs.