2020 Production and ESG report

2020 Highlights:

• Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) improved to 0.14 in 2020 with zero employee fatalities. We regret to confirm one contractor fatality at the Suzdal mine in June 2020. Since the period end, we are also deeply sad to report an incident at our underground Irokinda mine in January 2021 which resulted in one employee fatality.
• Record gold production of 1,045.6 thousand ounces of gold equivalent (koz) was marginally up on 2019, despite the challenges presented by the unprecedented global pandemic. The strong production results were mainly driven by the Gross, Taborny, Taparko, Irokinda, Berezitovy and Suzdal mines, more than offsetting lower production at other mines.
• Nordgold’s flagship Gross mine, in the highly prospective Gross District of Yakutia, increased production by 7% year-on-year to 278 koz. The outstanding results were mainly achieved due to an 11% increase in mining and processing capacity of the mine in 2020, rising to 16 million tonnes of ore per year from 14.5 million tonnes of ore processed in 2019.
• Successfully increased the mining and processing capacity of Taborny mine in the Gross mining district from 5 million to 7.5 million tonnes of ore per year.
• The Сompany rose to 12th position in the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) environmental transparency rating in 2020 (up from 14th in 2019). The annual rating reflects the openness of the environmental information provided by Russia’s mining and metals companies.
• In December 2020, Sustainalytics ranked Nordgold in the first quartile of the Precious Metals sector ESG risk ratings.
• Nordgold intends to strengthen its Board by increasing the number of Independent Non-Executive Directors to four, excluding the Chair, and the total Board to nine in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code and its commitment to the highest Corporate Governance and ESG standards.

“Our first priority in 2020 was protecting the health and well-being of our people in what has been a hugely challenging year given the impact of Covid-19. I would like to once again thank all my colleagues for the way they have adapted to the changes we have put in place during the pandemic.

It is testament to the strength of our people that we have reported a very strong year of production despite these challenges, ahead of the record result achieved last year. In particular, our Gross mine launched in 2018 has continued to outperform, while we have also delivered a very strong result at Taparko in Burkina Faso. This highlights the strength of our international portfolio, where our West African operations are complemented by the unique characteristics of our Russian portfolio, in particular the potential offered by our position in the highly prospective Gross District.

The Gross mine itself has considerable scope for further expansion, while we are progressing quickly with Tokko, another exciting high quality project. We are also making good progress on developing and delivering our ESG strategy. I look forward to progressing our plans to further diversify our Board, and am encouraged to see the continued progress in our WWF and Sustainalytics Ratings. We aim to maintain this momentum in 2021.” Nikolai ZelenskiNordgold CEO

Enquiries

Nordgold
Olga Ulyeva
Head of Corporate Communications
olga.ulyeva@nordgold.com

Powerscourt
Peter Ogden
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 1446