By their very nature, mining operations can have a significant effect on the local environment. We make it a priority to minimize the environmental impact of our processes, manage our facilities in a responsible and sustainable way, respond quickly to environmental incidents and take steps to prevent them from happening again.

We devote significant human, technical and capital resources to protecting natural and cultural resources both while we operate and after operations cease. We are motivated to excel by our own policies and values, while under regulation by a host of governmental requirements. Our employees take personal responsibility for environmental stewardship – in the way they work, communicate and respond to challenges.

Our global policies call for routine internal and external environmental audits to assess our environmental compliance, management systems and practices. Our facilities respond to the audits with action plans to implement suggestions made by the auditors. In 2007, 34 environmental compliance audits were conducted at our locations worldwide.

We are also committed to obtaining ISO 14001 certification for all our operations. This international standard signifies that a facility or company has systems in place to monitor and minimize environmental impacts and to drive continuous improvement in protecting the environment. Twenty of our operating sites have received ISO 14001 certification since 1999.

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