Precious Metals Industry ESG Thematic Report, 2023

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in the Precious Metals Industry

The current trend of investments is impacted by the introduction of policies in areas of Environment, Social and Governance and the intense implementation of such policies.

The precious metals industry is one of the highly demanded markets, where the products have applicability across various industries such as fashion and electronics and electrical, where the applicability is very high. There are a wide range of issues, which negatively impact the market in the arena of ESG. Environmental degradation, water contamination, as well as human rights and community displacements in the areas of environment and social are prevalent in the industry.

The key leaders of the precious metals market are however trying to scale down the negative impacts caused by the issues by taking up initiatives to sustain the industry in terms of ESG.

ESG Trends

A wide range of issues pertaining to the ESG arena are existing in the precious metals industry. There are a wide range of products in the market such as Gold, Silver, and Platinum, whose extraction and global value chain create an adverse impact on the environment.

The mining of the gold causes poisoned waters, where chemicals such as arsenic, lead, mercury and acids are dumped into the water bodies. According to a report, around 180 tons of chemical waste is dumped into the water bodies annually. Further, the reports of the tailing dam failure have been submitted, which is due to the mining mineral waste. Simultaneously, the said water waste through the aforementioned cause has caused community displacements at large scale, inflicting damages on the social part of ESG.

The contamination of the water bodies due to the mining of gold has led to acid mine drainage, which has caused destruction of aquatic life at massive scale. The components of the acid marine drainage such as mercury and other metals are reported to affect human health for generations.

It has been reported that manufacturing of a wedding ring generates at least 20 tons of solid waste, which involves the digging the metal ore and processing the metal from the ore generates this kind of solid waste. This can be directly linked to significant negative sustainability impact on the planet through United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land.

For extracting the gold, a method known as heap leaching is executed, where the cyanide is dripped to the ore to filter out the gold. This cyanide dripped heap is dipped in a pond, causing the water body to get contaminated with cyanide, a highly toxic chemical. It must be noted that 99% of the heap goes wasted, where these heaps are left undisposed, causing groundwater pollution as well. The consumption of such water may lead to fatal health effects on the human population of local communities. This directly affects the health and well-being of communities (SDG 3).

Growth Of the Precious Metals Market

The precious metals market at global scale was valued at USD 182.1 billion as of 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 9.0% from 2020 to 2027. The environmental degradation as well as the adverse effect on the human rights due to the mining process are significant aspects that hurdle the market in terms of ESG.

Key Companies in this theme

    • Newmont Goldcorp

    • Barrick Gold

    • AngloGold Ashanti

    • Kinross Gold

    • Newcrest Mining

    • Freeport-McMoRan

Scope of the Precious Metals Industry ESG Thematic Report:

    • Macro-economic and ESG-variable analysis of the industry, including regulatory, policy, and innovation landscape

    • Key insights on infrastructure developments and ESG issues affecting the theme

    • Identify key initiatives and challenges within the industry

    • Identify ESG leaders within the industry

    • Understand key initiatives and the impact of companies within the sector to fuel an informed decision-making process

    • Analysis of industry activities based on multi-media sources, including significant controversies and market sentiment

Key Aspects of the Precious Metals Industry ESG Thematic Report:

    • Offers a global perspective of the market and the policies and measures taken by the players, for overcoming the challenges faced in terms of Environment, Social and Governance.

    • Key insights into the sustainability practices of major players in the market.