Sustainability
Human Rights
Newcrest is committed to respecting the Human Rights of all stakeholders and the laws of the countries in which we operate.
We seek to prevent or mitigate any negative impacts of our activities, and maximise our positive impacts, including in relation to Human Rights, and to ensure that our operations do not contribute to conflict. This commitment is fundamental to achieving our vision to be the Miner of Choice™ for all stakeholders, and to acting in accordance with Newcrest’s values.
Newcrest is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights as set out in the International Bill of Human Rights (comprising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Salient Human Rights Issues
Newcrest understands that we have the potential to cause, contribute to or be directly linked to human rights impacts, and these impacts could occur anywhere through our value chain.
We have identified our most salient human rights issues – that is, the human rights at risk of the most severe negative impacts through our activities and business relationships.
We believe that the most important measure of our success is creating a workplace where everyone goes home safe and healthy every day. We also acknowledge this is a risk for workers in our supply chain.
We have a Safety and Health Policy, and our Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Management System details the standards, guidelines and supporting tools to support our safety vision, and to provide assurance of our HSE performance. Our system is supported by our Safety Transformation Plan built on three key pillars – NewSafe, Critical Control Management (CCM), and Process Safety Management (PSM). This safety strategy continues to drive performance improvement across our operations, in alignment with our ICMM, WGC and MCA commitments.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
We have strong policies and processes to ensure that we respect the rights of our people at work.
We also undertake due diligence in our supply chain to assess and address labour rights, including risks of modern slavery. This due diligence beyond our direct suppliers in relation to higher risk categories.
Read more in our Modern Slavery Statement.
Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of Newcrest’s vision, values and company culture.
Our Diversity and Inclusion Policy sets out our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels safe, valued and supported to bring their whole unique self to work. We have a 2021 – 2025 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to help us meet our commitments.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
We understand that acquiring rights to, accessing and using land can impact on the rights of community members. As set out in our Communities Policy, we strive to engage early, openly, honestly and regularly with the communities impacted by our operations and consider their views in our decision-making, and to compensate people whose lands and assets are impacted during our period of activities.
Any resettlement necessary for the conduct of our business must be carried out under a resettlement action plan that aligns with the requirements of the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 5: Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement and the ICMM’s Position Statement on Indigenous Peoples and Mining.
As set out in our Communities Policy, we are committed to active and inclusive consultation and engagement with our lease area landholders and surrounding host communities. Our Social Performance Standard requires all operations to complete community social baseline studies and impact assessments, which encompass relevant human rights risks.
We believe that a planned, transparent and constructive approach to community engagement and development is critical to maintaining our reputation and ensuring that the communities in which we operate benefit from Newcrest’s operations. Building trust with local communities is critical for our success. Through our engagement, we strive to deliver sustainable long-term benefits to local communities. Our planning includes mine closures, and the social impacts and opportunities these present for us, communities and stakeholders.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
Our Indigenous Relations Policy sets out our commitment to respecting Indigenous Peoples and preserving their cultures and customs in the communities in which we operate. We also respect tangible and intangible cultural heritage across our sites and communities.
We have agreements with First Nations and Indigenous communities at our operations located on or adjacent to the traditional territories and lands of Indigenous Peoples, specifically at Telfer, Red Chris and Brucejack. We also have agreements with landowners and landholders at our Lihir operation.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
We acknowledge that environmental impacts can have human rights impacts, and in line with our Environmental Policy we are committed to excellence in environmental performance.
Our Social Performance Standard requires all operations to complete community social baseline studies and impact assessments, which encompass relevant human rights risks.
Our Water Stewardship Policy and Water Management Standard recognise that a holistic catchment-based approach to water management is required to achieve resource sustainability. Our Standard defines the requirements for water monitoring at all managed Newcrest sites and supports the establishment of local monitoring processes. We use the Minerals Council of Australia’s Water Accounting Framework to support water reporting for all our operations and the ICMM Water Reporting Guidelines.
As stated in our Climate Change Policy, we recognise that climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the world today, and we support the Paris Agreement goals. We acknowledge our responsibility to reduce emissions at our operations and we are progressing multiple carbon emissions reduction initiatives as part of our Group Net Zero Emissions Roadmap.
We are also committed to safe and responsible tailings facility operations in line with our Tailings Governance Policy, which is documented in the Tailings Management Framework and required by Newcrest’s Tailings and Water Storage Standard. These documents are aligned to the ICMM Preventing Catastrophic Failure of Tailings Storage Facilities Position Statement, and the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) which incorporates respect for human rights in tailings facility management.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
In line with our Security Policy we are committed to providing our people with a safe and secure work environment, and to establishing and implementing security operations that are consistent with international standards and norms for dealing with security and human rights, including the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
Read more in our Sustainability Report.
Governance
Newcrest’s Board of Directors oversees our approach to sustainability matters. The Board’s Safety and Sustainability Committee assists the Board in its oversight, monitoring and review of our practices and governance, including in relation to human rights.
The Safety and Sustainability Committee also receives updates regarding our human rights approach, emerging issues, and trends.
Our Sustainability and Social Performance function is responsible for overall management of our human rights approach including supporting operations to implement our commitments and standards.
Our cross-functional Human Rights Steering Committee also helps us to assess the effectiveness of and drive continuous improvement in our human rights approach. In particular, the committee oversees, drives and monitors the implementation of our human rights actions during the year, which supports accountability for those actions and helps to identify and address implementation challenges as they arise.
Policy framework
We have a number of policies, standards, procedures and processes that set out our commitments – and expectations of our people, suppliers and other third parties we work with – in relation to human rights.
Our Code of Conduct outlines the way we conduct ourselves at work and includes our commitment to respect human rights. It also sets expectations for employees, contractors and suppliers, and states that we seek to work with other third parties who respect human rights.
Our Human Rights Policy further details our human rights commitments. Our human rights approach is also supported by a range of other policies, standards, procedures and processes (including those referred to in relation to each of our salient human rights issues above, as well as our Sustainability Policy, Speak Out Policy, Procurement Policy and Anti-Bribery, Fraud and Sanctions Policy).
Human Rights Due Diligence
We work to assess, and take appropriate action regarding, the Human Rights risks in our operations and supply chain through ongoing human rights due diligence processes.
In addition to our Group-wide salient human rights issue assessment, we assess modern slavery and broader human rights risks in our operations in two ways: social and environmental impact assessments of our operations, and risk‑based due diligence including for joint venture partners, investments and new countries.
We acknowledge that many of the goods and services we procure have long, complex, and opaque supply chains, with human rights risks sitting beyond our direct suppliers. We also seek to build mutually beneficial working relationships and partnerships with our suppliers and respecting human rights is core to these relationships. Our expectations of suppliers, including in relation to human rights, are set out in our Supplier Performance Commitments.
We have a number of supplier due diligence processes which consider human rights risks during onboarding and as part of ongoing supplier monitoring and engagement. We have also been undertaking risk reviews into our high-risk categories to continue building the visibility of our supply chains beyond tier one and our understanding of related modern slavery risks.
Grievance mechanisms
We recognise that trusted, effective grievance mechanisms play a key role in identifying and remediating human rights issues.
We have a global Speak Out Policy which outlines a number of channels including an independent hotline, to encourage the reporting of concerns relating to unethical, illegal or any other inappropriate behaviour, including human rights issues. In addition, all Newcrest operating sites maintain a grievance management system for community members and employees. Feedback is incorporated into ongoing improvement measures. When there is a grievance or dispute, we engage in constructive dialogue, seeking and providing feedback, respecting other points of view and responding in a timely manner.
Where we identify that we have caused or contributed to an adverse human rights impact, we are committed to providing for or cooperating in its remediation.
