Good afternoon. My name is Todd Romaine. I'm the vice-president for corporate social responsibility for Nevsun Resources, which is a Vancouver-based Canadian mining company.
As part of our evolving CSR program, Nevsun Resources decided it was important to undertake an extensive external assessment on how the Bisha mine compares both in a national and international context with respect to human rights of our workforce. This was primarily precipitated by our company's broader understanding of how human rights fits into our expanding CSR program, as well as to address historic stakeholder concerns. The idea behind this specific human rights impact assessment was that of Nevsun Resources, but we received full cooperation and support from the Government of Eritrea. To our understanding, this is the first human rights impact assessment ever undertaken in Eritrea.
Both Nevsun Resources and the Government of Eritrea decided early on, before the release of the report and its findings, that we were committed to transparency with our stakeholders. This was based on both the idea of putting everything on the table and addressing any outstanding issues, as well as our confidence back then that everything that we had done to date would meet positive standards.
To date, we have met with various stakeholders face to face to discuss the findings of this report and to gather input and suggested next steps to ensure that the Bisha mine and its governance model continue to evolve. These meetings have included numerous NGOs, including MiningWatch, Amnesty International, UNICEF, as well as a planned meeting with Human Rights Watch in New York in July. We've also met with the Government of Canada, institutional investors, ethical investor funds, human rights lawyers, as well as a planned meeting with the UN in July.
Some if not all of the suggestions made by our stakeholders in addition to what is being recommended in the report will be discussed internally at Nevsun and with the Government of Eritrea for implementation.
We are, as a company, committed to ongoing transparency with respect to the implementation of these various selected measures. We will be in constant dialogue with our stakeholder population by providing written updates of the progress that we make in these, on our website and through our CSR reporting exercise. Nevsun Resources inherently believes that CSR is a key corporate strategy that is critical in maintaining our social licence to operate in Eritrea. Our success as a Canadian mining company relies on the value-added contribution we provide to the people of Eritrea throughout the life of the project. Our business model is relatively unique to Africa. It is one in which a local national government owns a considerable stake in the business as a mechanism to ensure its citizens are direct beneficial recipients of the extractive industry in terms of local employment, training, supply chain, taxation, and royalties.
The decisions affecting the Bisha mine are that of collaborative consensus, of which our Canadian mining company has had influence to pursue numerous CSR objectives that adhere to the national laws of the country, as well as meet evolving international standards that the Government of Canada recognizes and endorses. The resulting outcome of our partnership has been a successful template which the Eritreans can apply to other mining companies down the road or to other sectors in their expanding economy.
Nevsun Resources is committed to ongoing constructive dialogue with our various stakeholders to ensure that the ongoing development of one of the highest grade mineral deposits on the planet is done so in a way that maximizes local capacity, job opportunities, and various benefits, while minimizing externalities and contributing in a positive holistic manner to Eritrean society.
Thank you.