At the 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference held in Shanghai from October 20 to 22, Yang Jingbin, Deputy Party Secretary, Director and Chairman of the Labor Union of Zhongjin Gold Corp.,Ltd. (ASX: 600489), attended an industry forum themed "New Economic Landscape and a New Chapter in Consumption," jointly hosted by the World Gold Council and Sina Finance, and delivered a speech.
Yang Jingbin noted that, in the face of new global sustainable development requirements, the gold mining industry still faces the following prominent difficulties.
First challenge: mutual recognition of standards. Although domestic green mine construction has achieved remarkable results, there remain differences with mainstream international frameworks and discourse systems in areas such as ESG disclosure and carbon footprint accounting. The international recognition of Chinese mining enterprises urgently needs to be raised.
Second challenge: supply chain transparency. The gold industry chain is long and involves many stages, enterprises have limited means to control the ESG performance of suppliers, due diligence costs are relatively high, and achieving full traceability across the supply chain is quite difficult.
Third challenge: balancing costs. The green and low-carbon transition requires substantial upfront investment, while mineral product prices fluctuate frequently, leaving enterprises often caught between high environmental standards and economic feasibility.
Fourth challenge: social license. The sustainability of mining projects increasingly depends on safety records and community acceptance. How to obtain sustained support from local communities has become a key factor determining project success or failure.
In response to the above challenges, Yang Jingbin put forward the following four suggestions.
First, uphold shared responsibility and build a responsible industry chain community. Jointly promote the extension of ESG from internal corporate management to supply chain management, covering every stage from resource exploration, mining and smelting to recycling and regeneration, so that responsibility is traceable, verifiable and comparable.
Second, uphold common standards and promote mutual recognition between domestic and international frameworks. Zhongjin Gold is willing to strengthen alignment with internationally accepted frameworks such as the World Gold Council's Responsible Gold Mining Principles, promote the establishment of unified industry accounting standards and quantitative disclosure indicators, and enhance mutual trust among global stakeholders through transparent disclosure, so that the green practices of Chinese mining enterprises can be seen and recognized.
Third, uphold co-creation through technology and use innovation to solve the difficulties of green transformation. Focusing on five major areas—deep intelligent safe mining, green and low-carbon beneficiation and smelting, extraction and materialization of key strategic metals, circular utilization of mineral resources, and digital transformation of mining—Zhongjin Gold is willing to form innovation consortia and jointly build laboratories with global partners, effectively reducing costs and improving efficiency through technological breakthroughs.
Fourth, uphold shared outcomes and let resource development regions benefit first. Respect local demands, balance commercial value and social value, and work with all parties to explore a long-term mechanism of "industry + talent + consumption," treating coexistence with communities as an important consideration for mining projects, so that every resource development becomes a benefit to the local land and people.
In his concluding remarks, Yang Jingbin said: "Gold is precious not only because of its scarcity, but also because it can withstand the tempering of fierce fire and the test of time. Responsibility is the tempering our industry must endure." He stated that Zhongjin Gold is willing, with an open and cooperative attitude, to join hands with global industry partners to jointly promote the mining industry's development in a greener, safer and more inclusive direction.
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