In today's global context where Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are increasingly valued, China's gold mining industry, as a vital component of the national economy, continues to adjust its development approach to align with evolving trends. After years of exploration and advancement, the industry has achieved a milestone breakthrough.
Four major Chinese gold mining giants - China National Gold Group Gold Jewellery Co.,Ltd., Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Zijin Mining Group Company Limited, and Zhaojin Group - have all successfully passed independent third-party verification through their steadfast implementation of the Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs), obtaining RGMPs certification reports. This represents the first practical achievement in China's gold mining industry since the RGMPs project launch, marking a milestone in the industry's ESG development. It fully demonstrates the firm determination and commitment of Chinese gold mining enterprises to lead in the global gold industry's sustainable development journey, setting new benchmarks for industry ESG construction.
**RGMPs Provides Answers to Gold Industry Sustainable Development Questions**
Over the past decade, Chinese gold mining enterprises have accelerated their "going global" efforts, accompanied by growing controversies. Questions arose about whether resource development must come at the expense of local community interests, and whether ecological environmental damage could be "decoupled" from economic growth. These concerns prompted deep reflection within China's gold mining industry. How can gold mining minimize ecological impact? How can mining operations develop alongside local communities? How can gold production achieve more modern management models? These questions fundamentally ask how the gold industry can achieve sustainable development.
In 2019, the RGMPs introduced by the World Gold Council provided concrete answers to these questions. The framework contains 51 detailed principles that clearly define specific requirements for member companies in governance, environmental, and social domains, along with data verification requirements. Verification scope must cover all operational gold mining areas, and all 51 RGMPs principles must be satisfied. If any principles are deemed "not applicable," member units must provide justification to verification providers and disclose relevant circumstances, following an "apply or explain" approach.
Upon release, the RGMPs principles gained support from World Gold Council members globally, including four Chinese member units. All companies committed to strictly following the principles' requirements, maintaining sustainable development concepts, and conducting gold mining operations more responsibly. However, for such long-term commitments, verbal promises are insufficient - actual implementation is key. Therefore, comprehensive, accurate, and impartial "rigorous verification" becomes particularly important.
RGMPs verification follows strict and standardized procedures. Verification teams must thoroughly review these companies' headquarters to assess alignment with RGMPs in governance structures and policy formulation. Additionally, teams select 1-4 representative mining sites for on-site inspection. In this verification round, teams examined Zhaojin Group's Dayingezhuang Gold Mine, Zijin Mining Group Company Limited's Longnan Liba Gold Mine, Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd.'s Hainan Shanjin Mining, and China National Gold Group Gold Jewellery Co.,Ltd.'s Jinfeng Mining, investigating actual implementation in key areas including environmental management, community relations, and employee rights.
Throughout this process, companies must fully cooperate with verification teams conducting comprehensive assessments through policy reviews, management interviews, site visits, environmental monitoring, community consultations, and employee surveys. This serves not only to demonstrate continuous compliance with RGMPs' stringent requirements but also to address any non-conformities discovered during verification. Companies must quickly develop comprehensive corrective action plans and prepare detailed RGMPs progress reports, clearly presenting remediation results and commitment to continuous improvement, ultimately ensuring RGMPs compliance.
**Significance of All Four Gold Giants Passing Verification**
In 2024, China National Gold Group Gold Jewellery Co.,Ltd., Zijin Mining Group Company Limited, Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd., and Zhaojin Group successively completed their first RGMPs verification. RGMPs constructs a comprehensive, detailed sustainable development action framework for gold mining enterprises, closely aligned with global ESG development trends. The preliminary achievements of these four leading enterprises in RGMPs implementation mark a solid and significant step forward for China's leading gold companies in ESG construction, with clear advantages.
First, regarding increasingly strict ESG regulatory compliance policies, the gold industry now has reference standards. In recent years, domestic and international regulatory bodies have introduced numerous ESG disclosure requirements, standardizing ESG and climate-related information disclosure for listed companies. RGMPs serves as a precise measuring tool, helping gold enterprises accurately align with international ESG standards in key areas including human rights protection, labor rights maintenance, and environmental protection, providing clear guidelines and ensuring compliance while effectively avoiding potential crises from compliance risks, enabling stable progress in complex regulatory environments.
Second, in current capital markets, both investors and financial institutions highly value corporate ESG performance, preferring to invest in quality enterprises with good ESG ratings. The four member units' RGMPs verification demonstrates their sustainable development efforts, helping companies achieve better ESG records and obtain more favorable financing conditions and development opportunities.
Third, from market demand perspectives, consumers and downstream enterprises increasingly focus on product sustainability and ethical attributes, preferring gold products meeting ESG standards. Through RGMPs implementation and verification, the four member units signal to markets that their gold products follow responsible principles from extraction sources, effectively meeting urgent market demand for sustainable gold products, significantly enhancing product market competitiveness, expanding market share, and strengthening brand reputation and loyalty among consumers.
Finally, RGMPs imposes strict supply chain transparency requirements, prompting companies to implement refined management across all supply chain segments, ensuring each link aligns with responsible mining concepts. Through this process, the four member units not only improved their supply chain risk management levels but also better respond to stringent market and regulatory transparency requirements, constructing green, transparent, and reliable gold supply chains that provide solid foundations for long-term stable development.
Though the path is long, progress comes through action; though challenges are difficult, success comes through persistence. The four major gold giants' successful completion of initial RGMPs verification has already painted a significant chapter in the industry landscape, establishing a positive image of responsible, sustainable Chinese gold enterprises on the global gold industry stage, opening new paths for high-quality development and gaining broad development space. However, this represents only one milestone in the sustainable development journey.
Looking ahead, the four member units will continue upholding sustainable development concepts, actively promoting deep integration of RGMPs and ESG principles with corporate development strategies, persisting as more responsible gold producers, continuously leading China's gold industry toward greener, more environmentally friendly, harmonious, and efficient sustainable development heights, contributing more Chinese wisdom and strength to the global gold industry's sustainable future.