Calibre Mining Publishes Inaugural 2020 Sustainability Report

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX: CXB; OTCQX: CXBMF) (the “Company” or “Calibre”) is pleased to announce the Company has published its inaugural 2020 Sustainability Report (“the Report”). The Report outlines the Company’s achievements and progress during 2020 and provides guidance for the Company’s Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (“ESG”) initiatives for 2021.

The Report is available on the Company’s website at www.calibremining.com or can be downloaded here.

2020 Highlights

People

• Our workplace: 2,754 employees and contractors, of which 98% are Nicaraguan nationals with 65% from the local communities where we operate
• Held 748 transparent and open community engagement meetings
• Conducted four public consultations, all resulting in project approval
  

Socio-Economic Benefits

• Distributed $198.4M total economic value to our host country of Nicaragua through wages and benefits to employees, contracts to suppliers, taxes, and community investments
  

Health & Safety

• Developed a “ONE CALIBRE” Organizational Health & Safety Culture Program
• Executed a self-imposed ten-week COVID-19 response shutdown in Q2/2020
• Implemented new rigorous health and safety procedures and protocols
• Reduced Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate by 12% compared to full year 2019

Environment

• Zero significant environmental incidents, including no notices of violations, fines or sanctions
• Established multi-stakeholder partnership in Rancho Grande for water conservation

Governance

• Joined the World Gold Council and working to comply with all Responsible Gold Mining Principles (“RGMPs”)
• Advancing alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Integrating and adhering to updated governance and social responsibility policies and procedures
  

Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calibre, stated: “I am pleased to introduce our inaugural Sustainability Report. This is an important milestone for Calibre as we seek to communicate with full transparency our approach to responsible and sustainable mining, ensuring our accountability to all stakeholders by doing what we say, and responsibly delivering on our commitments.  

“2020 was a year that saw us change the way we do business to safeguard employees, contractors, and host communities from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given the rapidly deteriorating global environment at the end of the first quarter, we initiated extensive discussions with government representatives, employees, unions, contractors, and other key stakeholders and decided to temporarily suspend operations at the El Limon and La Libertad mines in April. We resumed operations in mid-May under a comprehensive protocol, aligned with World Health Organization guidelines, which established measures for the health and well-being of our employees and contractors.

“COVID-19 also changed how we engaged with stakeholders, particularly in our host communities, by limiting our ability to meet in person and in large groups. However, we managed to maintain strong relationships and advance several critical projects, including the Pavon Project and preliminary consultations for requests for new mining concessions. By the end of 2020, we had held 748 meetings with local and national stakeholders, maintaining a strict adherence to community health and safety protocols.

“Our most significant sustainability focus in 2020 related to an aspect perhaps most critical for our success and one of our core values: ensuring the health and safety of our workforce. The unfortunate fatality of one of our contractors in July 2020 was a failure of the Company to send one of our extended family members safely home from work. We strongly believe all incidents are avoidable, and this one was no exception. As a concrete response, we launched a radical change in our approach to occupational health and safety and are now adopting a ONE CALIBRE Risk-Based Culture, which includes all levels of the workforce, as we aspire to zero harm.

“We support the increasing emphasis that all stakeholders, particularly investors, place on ESG issues. To that end, we are aiming to conform fully with the RGMPs within the World Gold Council’s three-year timeframe. To prepare for this, we will be conducting a gap analysis in the second half of 2021 to identify those policies, standards, and processes that already comply with the RGMPs and those areas that require improvement.

“Sustainability is integral to our vision and our success. I trust you will find in our inaugural Sustainability Report a comprehensive representation of Calibre’s 2020 ESG performance, commitments, and strategy for the future. We are proud of our progress to date, and we will strengthen our transparency on an ongoing basis, by improving the quality of our data and demonstrating progress on each of the material issues identified.”

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

“Darren Hall”

Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Ryan King
Senior Vice President Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Calibre Mining Corp.
T: 604.628.1012
E: calibre@calibremining.com
W: www.calibremining.com

About Calibre Mining Corp.

Calibre Mining is a Canadian-listed gold mining and exploration company with two 100%-owned operating gold mines in Nicaragua. The Company is focused on sustainable operating performance and a disciplined approach to growth. Since the acquisition of the Limon, Libertad gold mines and Pavon Gold Project, Calibre has proceeded to integrate its operations into a “Hub-and-Spoke” operating philosophy, whereby the Company can take advantage of reliable infrastructure, favorable transportation costs, and multiple high-grade mill feed sources that can be processed at either Limon or Libertad, which have a combined 2.7 million tonnes of annual mill throughput capacity.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Calibre’s control. For a listing of risk factors applicable to the Company, please refer to Calibre’s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2020, available on www.sedar.com. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Calibre’s forward-looking statements.

Calibre’s forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. Calibre does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.