The International Cyanide Management Institute (ICMI) announced today that it had accepted Centerra Gold Inc. as a signatory to the International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold (Code). The Code is a voluntary industry program for companies involved in the production of gold using cyanide and companies manufacturing and transporting this cyanide. Centerra Gold is a Canadian mining company with operations in Mongolia and the Kyrgyz Republic. Its Kumtor Mine, located in the Kyrgyz Republic, uses its own equipment and personnel to transport cyanide to the mine site from a nearby railhead, and Centerra is therefore also signing the Code as a cyanide transporter.
Code signatories commit to follow the Code’s Principles and implement its Standards of Practice, and to have verification audits of their operations conducted by independent third-party auditors within three years of their initial application, and every three years thereafter. Operations will be certified if found in compliance with the Code, and may be de-certified if determined to be out of compliance with the Code.
The Code was developed under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee. The Code is intended to complement an operation’s existing obligation to comply with the applicable laws and regulations of the political jurisdiction in which the operation is located.
ICMI has been established to administer the Code, promote its adoption, evaluate its implementation, and manage the certification process. A detailed list of the operations covered by signatory companies’ applications, along with the full text of the Code and its implementing and administrative documents, are available at www.cyanidecode.org.
Date:
Friday, May 1, 2009