In a series of posts on Twitter, the company has pointed to initiatives including its Nunavut environmental team collaborating with local stakeholders "to ensure the migration patterns of caribou are not disrupted".

"To make mining work, protecting the land, the water and the wildlife cannot be an afterthought," it said earlier today.

Its messages come as ESG has become more prominent, with a mining conference in London last month hearing miners should fight their corner on ESG, after the industry's standing had suffered in the wake of scandals such as Vale's fatal Brumadinho tailings dam collapse in Brazil in January.

A draft Global Tailings Standard is currently open for public consultation until the end of this month, with co-convenors - the International Council on Mining and Metals, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Principles for Responsible Investment - aiming to have the final standard published in 2020.

It also follows Newmont (NYSE: NEM) this month being ranked the top mining company in Newsweek's inaugural list of America's Most Responsible Companies for 2020.