Advancing our environmental performance

In order to advance our environmental performance, we have identified seven environmental priorities for our global operations:

• Environmental management
• Air quality, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
• Water stewardship
• Noise abatement
• Waste management
• Biodiversity
• Land and resource management - cultural heritage
• Visual amenity, closure and progressive rehabilitation

We are continuously improving our performance in these areas by developing and implementing environmental management programs and mitigation measures across our organization.

Environmental management

Our Environmental Management Plan (EMP) provides a framework to address operational and environmental risks associated with our operations, including an environmental risk register, an environmental effects statement and a monitoring program.

Air quality, energy efficiency and ghgs

Our operations are actively working to reduce Kirkland Lake Gold’s environmental and carbon footprint. We focus on minimizing the adverse impact of emissions from our mining operations and processing facilities, and on improving our overall energy efficiency. All of our operations have air quality monitoring and mitigation programs in place to track and reduce such emissions, as well as to reduce the amount of dust and other particulates related to our mining activities. We measure and report Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to national databases.

Waste management

Each of our sites has appropriate waste rock and tailings management plans in place designed to minimize impacts to soils, surface water and groundwater resources. Additionally, general domestic and hazardous waste is disposed off-site by a licensed waste management company. We focus on reducing the volume of waste going to landfill by reducing, reusing and recycling.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is an integral part of maintaining the natural habitats and ecosystems that surround our sites. We monitor and help preserve local biodiversity by conducting regular studies and updates on aquatic life, species at risk, breeding birds, and animal and plant life. We also integrate best practices in land use planning and conservation into our operating activities in order to minimize our impact on the local environment.

Water stewardship

We seek to manage water responsibly, including protecting water quality and improving our water use efficiency. Our goal is to minimize any potential water-related impacts from our operations and to ensure our activities do not compromise any shared use of water with our local communities. We continue to expand and evolve our water quality monitoring and management activities – including conducting appropriate risk assessments and implementing any necessary corrective actions. Each of our operations has unique monitoring and treatment demands, based on their location, the season and the on-site process they use.

Noise abatement

Reducing the amount of noise that emanates from our sites is important to our community stakeholders, as both our Macassa and Fosterville mines are located in or near communities. We incorporate noise criteria into our design and expansion activities, and we regularly monitor our activities, in order to minimize any impacts to employees and local citizens. We are committed to keeping our local communities informed about the timing and extent of our blasting activities.

Land and resource management

Cultural heritage, visual amenity, closure and progressive rehabilitation

Our land and resource management initiatives focus on identifying, protecting and preserving indigenous and historical cultural heritage sites; ensuring our mine sites provide an appealing visual amenity for our community stakeholders; and, proactively and progressively rehabilitating our mine sites to ensure their long-term stability. We collaborate with indigenous communities in both Canada and Australia, as well as with local, provincial, state and national government officials and agencies, along with other interested parties, to inform them of our development activities and to incorporate their natural, cultural and social knowledge and concerns into our project plans.