Respect for human rights is the moral basis of our operations. We advocate for individual freedom and fair working conditions, and condemn any form of discrimination. We conduct our business on the basis of strict adherence to global human rights covenants, principles and frameworks against forced Labour in relation to our operational activities, and we share and adhere to our values globally.

We follow the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights(UNGP), UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Global Compact, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs), and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

The Company’s Board is responsible for human rights risk management issues, while the ESG Management Committee’s role is to implement human rights risk management efforts. Currently, all subsidiaries have working bodies that are vertically led by the ESG Management Committee, to monitor compliance with human rights standards and to implement their respective human rights risk management efforts.

We integrate the spirit of respecting human rights into our corporate management standards. The Corporate Code of Conduct of Zijin Mining provides detailed explanations of the behavioral standards and fundamental principles we adopt in our business dealings with various stakeholders. It also serves as the core values we seek in selecting business partners. In it, we make a clear statement about respecting human rights and firmly oppose any violations of human rights. We prohibit the use of child labor and any form of forced or compulsory labor, and we respect and safeguard the legitimate rights of our employees. The Code applies not only to our direct subsidiaries, wholly-owned and controlled companies but also serves as an important criterion for our project investments and supplier selection.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct requires all suppliers to accept and commit to it in order to establish a business relationship with Zijin Mining. Any behavior that violates the Code will damage their business relationship with us and may even result in the termination of the cooperation. Our business partners must strictly prohibit the use of forced labor, all forms of modern slavery, and human trafficking, such as bonded labor or involuntary prison labor. We require that the employment relationship between business partners and their employees be based on voluntary principles and can be terminated by the employees themselves with reasonable notice.

In following the UNGPs and the Company’s human rights standards, we require all subsidiaries to progressively establish processes to identify and manage human rights risks and to integrate human rights assessments into their impact or risk assessments. We identified several human rights risks in the Company’s operations, with artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) being the main human rights challenge we are currently facing. We also pay close attention to human rights risks in the use of child labour, forced labour workplace harassment, and discrimination especially in high-risk areas.

We require all current projects to strictly comply with the minimum working age requirements of the laws and regulations of the country (place) in which they are located or of ILO Convention No. 138, whichever is higher. We have a comprehensive hiring screening mechanism to avoid hiring child labour by mistake. In addition, we require contractors, suppliers and third party recruitment agencies to eradicate the use of child labour, analyse the risk of hiring child labour by mistake and take timely measures:

We strongly oppose any form of forced labor in all our business operations, and we strictly prohibit any form of forced labor in our subsidiaries, joint ventures, equity investments, suppliers, contractors, and partners. We reject forced labor, labor trafficking, human trafficking, and all forms of modern slavery.

All our recruitment activities are based on the principles of freedom, prior and informed consent (FPIC). All employees are hired through free market recruitment and mutual selection, and their employment contracts are based on voluntary principles. They have the right to terminate their employment contracts according to their own will after the statutory notice period.

We support the union to negotiate and sign the “Employee Wage Collective Agreement” and “Employee Collective Labour Contract” with the Company on behalf of employees to protect their legitimate rights and interests. Employees may join and withdraw from the union at their own free will. When there are matters that may have a negative impact on the employees, such as major operational changes, the Company will give the employees advance notice to minimise such impact.

We have zero tolerance for discrimination, bullying, intimidation and harassment. We treat every employee fairly, regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, religion or cultural background, so as to create an inclusive and diverse work environment where every employee is treated with due respect. In following the “Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention and Penalisation Policy”, we prevent and reduce the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace through education and training, dissemination of legal knowledge, establishment of a joint-action mechanism for prevention and punishment of sexual harassment in the workplace and instilling the zero tolerance for sexual harassment in the workplace awareness. 

In following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we adhere to the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in our community work and respect the rights, interests, wishes, cultures and natural resource-based lifestyles of indigenous peoples.  (see Indigenous People for specific approaches and performance on respecting the rights of indigenous peoples).

According to World Bank statistics, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) provides livelihoods for as many as 100 million people worldwide, which is an important source of economic income for local residents. However, we also recognise that informal ASM activities can pose serious safety and human rights risks to miners, communities, companies, and our employees, which require the joint efforts of companies and society to address these challenges. We remain vigilant against illegal and human rights-violating activities such as intrusion, theft, and assault while supporting the fomalisation of ASM activities to protect local livelihoods. We will ensure that our supply chain does not involve products related to informal ASM activities, and adopt a proactive attitude in collaborating with government agencies, industry associations, and local communities to jointly promote the fomalisation of artisanal mining, mitigating the potential safety, environmental, and human rights risks that ASM may bring.