Iamgold response
The Swiss NGO Action de Caréme (or Fastenopfer in German) published a report which focuses, in part, on Iamgold’s Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. With respect to this report, Iamgold wishes to note the following: - the report provides a completely inaccurate picture of the situation in Burkina Faso. Disappointingly, Action de Carême completely disregarded extensive evidence about the positive impacts brought about by Iamgold’s activities in and around the Essakane. We attach a recent sustainability report from the Essakane mine for your reference; - the report entirely disregarded existing conditions in the area around the Essakane mine and instead presumed all such conditions have been caused solely by industrial mining activity, which is demonstrably false...Iamgold has worked and will continue to work in Burkina Faso in compliance with the law, the standards of recognized international organizations and its internal policies, including but not limited to the full respect of human rights. Iamgold has been consistently recognized for its outstanding community engagement initiatives, particularly at Essakane, by a number of local and Canadian organizations for its work to improve the conditions of the communities living around the mine in Essakane. This generally outstanding record of community engagement is completely at odds with the picture Action de Caréme paints in their report. Tellingly, Action de Caréme makes no mention in their report of any of the domestic or international awards Essakane has received for its extensive and innovative community programs...regrettably, Action de Caréme made no attempt to engage with Essakane or Iamgold staff at any point in the conduct of their research or the preparation of their report. In their report, Action de Carême provided no details of their on-the-ground research which they allegedly conducted in the summer of 2015 in the area of the Essakane mine, however, we do know that at no time did anyone from Action de Carême attempt to engage with anyone at Essakane during the period in which they purportedly conducted this field work. When Action de Caréme finally did contact Iamgold, a week before they published their report, we provided them with additional factual information regarding our activities around the Essakane mine, which they completely ignored. At the same time, Iamgold specifically offered to engage directly with Action de Caréme to address issues raised in their report, with a view to vetting identified concerns and, where appropriate, developing corrective action recommendations to address any confirmed deficiencies. Action de Caréme rejected our offer and refused to engage entirely. We struggle to understand how an organization that is supposedly focused on improving conditions for communities impacted by mining activities takes apparently no interest in furthering substantive work to that end.