New Gold released the Water Management Strategy Statement in June 2023, which demonstrates the proposed path to water stewardship across the Company. The New Afton Mine has continued a strong focus on water management this year, with the implementation of a site-wide water balance model which supports long-term decision making. Water use and risks are key areas which New Afton regularly engages on with local First Nations to broaden understanding and ensure a robust management approach.
The New Afton Mine is striving to achieve a AAA rating for the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Water Stewardship Protocol. As part of this work and to improve the standard of our external water reporting, New Gold has completed an external verification of water data reported in the 2022 Environment, Social and Governance Report. 2022 was the first year New Gold obtained external verification, completed by EMM Consultants, and the findings identified no fatal flaws with reporting. Several improvements were identified that New Afton Mine and New Gold can incorporate in future analysis and reporting. The recommendations include:
- Update the site-wide water balance model in areas such as:
- Mass balance and calibration (completed)
- Defining assumptions (completed)
- Confirm intensity for new water is defined and consistently calculated, and methods for calculating water data are consistent at both the New Afton and Rainy River Mines (2023 reporting)
- Confirm calculation of change in water storage and maintain database of assumption and raw data (2023 reporting)
The external verification has added value to New Gold’s water reporting, and as part of New Gold’s continuous improvement efforts, these items will be addressed in the preparation of future reporting.
