New Gold and the Rainy River Mine have had a strong focus on progress towards water stewardship in 2023. In June, New Gold released the Water Management Strategy Statement which demonstrates the proposed path to water stewardship across the company. Rainy River Mine demonstrated strong water management performance in 2023, primarily through increasing clean water diversions and water treatment capacity. Increasing clean water diversions allows for additional water to be maintained in the surrounding environment and reduces mining impacts. Year-to-date in 2023, over 800,000 m³ of clean water was maintained in the environment because of projects completed over the 2022-2023 winter season.
To improve the standard of our external water reporting, New Gold completed an external verification of water data reported in the 2022 Sustainability Report and the Rainy River Annual Reports. This verification was completed by EMM Consulting and the findings have identified no fatal flaws with reporting. Several recommendations were provided which improve the quality and consistency of our reporting, and these recommendations will be incorporated in the 2023 reporting cycle. New Gold and Rainy River are working to achieve strong and transparent reporting as part of the continual improvement and water stewardship process.