Case Study: Newcrest Mining Limited

Independent Assurance of the 2010 Sustainability Report

Background

ERM was engaged by Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest) to provide independent assurance of its 2010 Sustainability Report. Our scope of assurance (which was Type 2, moderate assurance) included Newcrest’s adherence to the AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008) Principles of Inclusivity, Materiality and Responsiveness, as well as selected material data streams: land, biodiversity, water supply, wastewater discharges, closure, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, waste rock and tailings management, and community.

Our Approach

Our work involved undertaking the following activities:

• Face-to-face interviews at the corporate level to understand and test the processes in place for reporting sustainability data and the underlying data management systems. This was followed up with a review of relevant documentation.
• Site visit to Newcrest’s Telfer facility in Western Australia, including face-to-face interviews with the sustainability data owners; testing, on a representative sample basis, of the measurement, collection, aggregation and reporting processes in place.
• Report on our assurance findings to management as they arose to provide them with the opportunity to correct them prior to the finalisation of our work.
• Review of the presentation of information relevant to the scope of our work in Newcrest’s 2010 Sustainability Report to ensure consistency with our findings, including any revisions and corrections identified.

Benefits and Value

ERM’s independent assurance statement can be found online as an integral part of Newcrest’s 2010 Sustainability Report.

This provides stakeholders with a level of confidence that an independent third party has reviewed the report and provided assurance over selected subject matter, and follows best practice in sustainability reporting.

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