Final Updated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Aurora Gold Project Prepared for Guyana Goldfields, Inc. Georgetown, Guyana Toronto, ON Prepared by: ENVIRON International Corporation Washington, DC Seattle, WA July 2013 Project Number: 01-25901A1 1 Introduction 1-1 1.1 General Background 1-1 1.2 Regulatory Setting 1-6 1.3 Resolution of Comments from IFC Review of ERM (2010) 1-8 1.4 Organization of ESIA Report 1-21 2 Project Description 2-1 2.1 Project Setting 2-2 2.1.1 Geographical and Geological Setting 2-1 2.1.2 Environmental Setting 2-6 2.1.3 Social Setting 2-6 2.2 Early Works Construction Phase 2-9 2.3 Major Construction Phase 2-9 2.3.1 Cuyuni River Dike Construction, Airstrip Renovation, and Open Pit Area Clearances 2-9 2.3.2 Mine Waste Rock Stockpile Footprint Preparation 2-12 2.3.3 Mill Area Infrastructure Construction 2-12 2.3.4 Tailings and Reclaim Pipeline and Initioal Tail Mining Area (TMA Clearance and Construction 2-14 2.3.5 MWP and Fresh Water Pond (FWP) Clearance and Construction 2-15 2.3.6 Underground Mine Construction 2-15 2.3.7 Man-Camp Completion 2-15 2.3.8 Decommissioning and Closure of Tapir Camp 2-16 2.3.9 Final Construction Activities, Buckhall 2-16 2.4 Operational Phase 2-17 2.4.1 Power Generation 2-17 2.4.2 Open Pit Mining Operations 2-17 2.4.3 Underground Mining Operations 2-18 2.4.4 Mineral Processing Operations 2-20 2.5 Decommissioning, Reclamation, and Closure Phase 2-23 2.6 Post-closure Phase 2-29 ENVIRON 3 Alternatives Assessment 3-2 3.1 Environmental Footprint Reduction 3-2 3.2 Description of Changes in Major Project Components 3-2 3.2.1 Open Pits 3-9 3.2.2 Tailings Mining Area (TMA) 3-9 3.2.3 Mine Water Management, Diversion, and Fresh Water Ponds 3-9 3.2.4 Waste Rock, Saprolite, and Overburden Stockpiles 3-10 3.2.5 Man Camp 3-10 3.2.6 Airstrip 3-10 3.2.7 General Industrial Areas – Mineral Processing and Support Facilities 3-10 3.2.8 Cuyuni River Dike System 3-10 3.2.9 Internal Roads 3-10 3.2.10 Power Generation Alternatives, Energy Demand, and Fuelling Schemes 3-11 3.2.11 Access to Aurora Site 3-11 3.3 Summary of Advantaages of the Selected Alternatives 3-11 4 Environmental Baseline 4-6 4.1 Area of Influence 4-9 4.2 History of Baseline Data Collection 4-12 4.2.1 Groundwater Sampling 4-12 4.2.2 Surface Water/Sediment Sampling 4-12 4.2.3 Biological Sampling 4-12 4.3 Climate 4-14 4.4 Air Quality 4-17 4.5 Hydrology 4-18 4.5.1 Surface Waters 4-18 4.5.2 Groundwater 4-21 4.5.3 2011 Investigation 4-24 4.6 Water Quality 4-27 4.7 Geology 4-43 4.7.1 Structural Geology 4-44 4.7.2 Geomorphology and Soils 4-47 4.7.3 Acid Rock Drainage and Metal Leaching Studies 4-49 4.8 Biodiversity 4-49 4.8.1 Scope of Biodiversity Assessment 4-49 4.8.2 General Characterization of the Region 4-50 4.8.3 Biological Sampling of the Study Area 4-52 4.8.4 Regional and Biogeographic Settings 4-53 4.8.5 Biological Sampling Methodologies 4-58 4.8.6 Biological Sampling Results 4-65 4.8.7 Fish 4-70 4.8.8 Amphibians 4-73 4.8.9 Non-avian Reptiles 4-76 4.8.10 Birds 4-78 4.8.11 Mammals 4-90 4.8.12 Species Accumulation Curves 4-95 ENVIRON 4.8.13 Invasive Alien Species 4-96 4.8.14 Critical Habitat Assessment 4-96 4.8.15 Legally Protected and Internationally Recognized Areas 4-116 4.8.16 Ecosystem Services 4-119 5 Socioeconomic Baseline 5-1 5.1 Introduction and Methodology 5-1 5.2 National Context 5-2 5.3 Regional Context 5-2 5.4 Social Area of Influence 5-3 5.5 Communities Studied in the Baseline 5-5 5.5.1 Communities in the DAI 5-5 5.5.2 Detailed Baseline for Communities in the Project’s DAI 5-6 5.5.3 Communities in the Project’s IAI 5-20 5.5.4 Other Project Beneficiaries 5-22 5.5.5 Summary of Findings 5-24 6 Risk and Impact Assessment 6-2 6.1 Introduction 6-2 6.2 Application of the Mitigation Hierarchy in Development of Project Design 6-3 6.3 Risk and Impact Assessment Methodology 6-4 6.3.1 Risk and Impact Screening 6-4 6.3.2 Quantification of Risk and Impact Significance 6-4 6.3.3 Consideration of Residual Impacts 6-23 6.4 Cumulative Impacts 6-24 6.4.1 Definition and Assessment Approach 6-13 6.4.2 Cumulative Impacts on the Physical and Biological Environment 6-14 6.4.3 Cumulative Socioeconomic Impacts 6-15 7 Assessment and Management Environmental and Social Risks (Ref: IFC PS-1) 7-2 7.1 Summary of PS 1 Requirements 7-2 7.2 Project ESMS Description 7-2 7.2.1 ESMS Plan 7-9 7.2.2 Management and Mitigation Plans 7-9 7.2.3 Standard Operating Procedures 7-16 8 Labor and Working Conditions (Ref: IFC PS-2) 8-2 8.1 Summary of PS 2 Requirements 8-2 8.2 Working Conditions and Management of Workforce Relationships 8-2 8.2.1 Human Resources Policies and Procedures 8-2 8.2.2 Working Conditions and Terms of Employment 8-3 8.2.3 Workers’ Organizations 8-4 8.2.4 Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity 8-4 8.2.5 Retrenchment 8-4 8.2.6 Grievance mechanism 8-5 8.3 Workforce Protection 8-5 ENVIRON 8.4 Occupational Health and Safety 8-5 8.5 Workers Engaged by Third Parties 8-9 8.6 Supply Chain Considerations 8-10 9 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention (Ref: IFC PS-3) 9-3 9.1 Summary of PS 3 Requirements 9-3 9.2 General Resource Efficiency Considerations 9-3 9.2.1 Power Generation, Fuel Use, and Minimization of GHG Emissions 9-4 9.2.2 Use of Water Resources 9-4 9.3 Polllution Prevention 9-9 9.3.1 Air Quality Management Strategy 9-10 9.3.2 Water Quality Management 9-10 9.3.3 Land Impact Management Strategy 9-33 9.4 Management of Pesticides 9-38 10 Community Health, Safety and Security (Ref: IFC PS-4) 10-2 10.1 Summary of PS 4 Requirements 10-2 10.2 General Considerations – Health and Safety of Affected Communities 10-2 10.3 Safety Considerations in Infrastructure and Equipment Design 10-2 10.4 Hazardous Materials Management 10-5 10.5 Adverse Community Health and Safety Risk in Provisioning and Regulating (Ecosystem) Services 10-8 10.6 Community Exposure to Disease 10-9 10.6 Emergency Preparedness and Response 10-10 10.7 Security Services 10-11 11 Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement (Ref: IFC PS-5) 11-2 11.1 Summary of PS 5 Requirements 11-2 11.2 Applicability of PS 5 to Project 11-2 11.3 Displacement Potential in Project Design 11-4 11.4 Compensation and Benefits for Displaced Persons 11-4 11.5 Community/Stakeholder Engagment 11-5 11.6 Grievance Mechanisms 11-5 11.7 Resettlement and Livelihood Restoration Considerations 11-5 12 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management (Ref: IFC PS-6) 12-2 12.1 Summary of PS 6 Requirements 12-2 12.2 Protection and Conservation of Biodiversity 12-3 12.2.1 Modified Habitat 12-3 12.2.2 Natural Habitat 12-3 12.2.3 Critical Habitat 12-4 12.3 Invasive Alien Species 12-4 12.4 Management of Ecosystem Services 12-5 12.5 Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources 12-6 ENVIRON 12.6 Supply Chain Considerations 12-6 13 Indigenous Peoples (Ref: IFC PS-7) 13-1 13.1 Summary of PS 7 Requirements 13-1 13.2 Applicability of PS 7 to Aurora Gold Project 13-1 13.3 Other Considerations Involving Idigenous Peoples 13-4 14 Cultural Heritage (Ref: IFC PS-8) 14-1 14.1 Description of Cultural Heritage Considerations in Area Affected by Project 14-1 14.2 Protective Measures for Cultural Artifacts 14-2 15 Master Reference List 15-2 List of Tables Table 1.2-1: Summary of Major Permit and License Requirements - Aurora Gold Project Table 1.3-1: Concordance Table: Resolution of IFC Comments on Original ESIA Table 2.1.3.2-1: Estimated Life of Mine Staffing Levels – Aurora Gold Project Table 3.1: Comparison of Major Project Alternatives Table 3.1.2: Comparison of Modified and natural Habitats and Streams to Be Converted by Mine Footprint and Internal Roads for July 2010 and January 2013 Site Layouts Table 4.2-1: History of biodiversity field surveys in the vicinity of the Aurora Project site, 2006 to 2012 Table 4.3-1: Summary of average monthly climate data from the Aurora Station from June 2006 to September 2011 Table 4.3-2: Overall 2006-2011 summary of available climate data from the Aurora Station Table 4.5-1: Depth to groundwater in meters Table 4.5-2: Summary of hydraulic conductivities in centimeters per second Table 4.5-3: Locations, depths, and identification of well nests at Aurora and formation in which each is screened Table 4.5-4: Groundwater elevations and hydraulic conductivity in centimeters per second (cm/s) for each screened geologic formation at Aurora Table 4.6-1: Surface water analytical results in milligrams per liter (mg/L), February 10, 2006 Table 4.6-2: Surface water analytical results in milligrams per liter (mg/L), July 6, 2006 Table 4.6-3: Surface water analytical results in milligrams per liter (mg/L), October 12, 2006 Table 4.6-4: Surface water analytical results in milligrams per liter (mg/L), March 4, 2007 Table 4.6-5: 2009 Surface water analytical results Table 4.6-6: 2009 sediment analytical results ENVIRON Table 4.6-7: Results of analytical tests on surface water samples at Aurora (2011).