Gold Miners ESG Performance: 5 Majors Compared

How do gold miners compare on ESG performance?

On the latest company reports, no gold miner leads on every ESG measure. For the 2025 reporting year, Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields reported no work-related deaths, Barrick reported four and Agnico Eagle one. Barrick had the highest water recycling rate at 81% and the highest reported emissions at 7.7 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, while Agnico Eagle reported the lowest group emissions of the five, at 1.36 million tonnes.

ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. This page compares five large listed gold mining company stocks on numbers taken from their own reports, sets those beside production and cost, and gives a calculator showing what a carbon price would do to your margin per ounce. It closes with the seven trends most likely to move these shares next. It holds facts and no stock tips.

Gold miners ESG scorecard: five majors compared

How we chose the companies and measures

We took the five largest gold producers that are listed in New York and publish 2025 figures in English, using the output ranking on our page about the top 20 gold mining companies. We then picked measures that an investor can read straight from a company report: work-related deaths, injury frequency, Scope 1 and 2 emissions, water recycling and the stated climate target. Scope 1 means emissions from the company’s own fuel and processes. Scope 2 means emissions from the electricity it buys.

The table is not a ranking. We did not build a combined score, because that would need weights that only reflect our own opinion. Third-party ESG ratings are left out for the same reason: they are commercial products with their own methods, and you should read them at the provider.

TRIFR is the total recordable injury frequency rate: recordable injuries per million hours worked. Mt CO2e means million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Each figure is for calendar 2025 and comes from the company’s own report.

Why these numbers are not like for like

• Injury rates use different rules in practice. Agnico Eagle’s 4.83 covers employees and contractors at medical-aid level and above. Barrick counts fatalities, lost-time, restricted-duty and medically treated injuries. A gap as wide as 4.83 against 0.71 may partly reflect what gets recorded and where, so compare each company with its own past before comparing it with a rival.
• Intensity targets use different bases. Barrick’s intensity baseline is 0.47 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of ore processed, and Agnico Eagle reports 0.39 tonnes per ounce. These cannot be set side by side.
• Copper changes the picture. Barrick produced 220,000 tonnes of copper as well as gold in 2025, and Newmont reported 135,000 tonnes. Group emissions cover those metals too, so dividing by gold ounces overstates the gold footprint.
• A clean year is not a clean record. Newmont’s report notes a fatality at Tanami in Australia on 4 February 2026, after the reporting year closed.

Gold miners’ emissions and climate targets

Absolute emissions mostly track the size and type of operation, so the bar chart below says more about each company’s mines than its effort. Progress against its own target is the fairer test.

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Reported Scope 1 and 2 emissions

Million tonnes CO2e, 2025; includes copper and other metals

Newmont estimated 4.4 million tonnes for 2025, 12% below its restated 2018 baseline of 5.0 million, against a goal of 32% by 2030. The company calls its climate targets aspirational. It restated the baseline after selling non-core mines and bringing Ahafo North into production, so older published progress figures no longer match.

Barrick gave a preliminary 7,722 thousand tonnes, location-based, against a 2018 baseline of 7,541 thousand tonnes. It says the rise from 2024 came mainly from more limestone used for neutralisation at Pueblo Viejo and more output at Porgera. Its target is framed on intensity, so absolute emissions can rise while the target is still met.

AngloGold Ashanti reported 1.806 million tonnes, up from 1.504 million. 2025 was the first full year with the Sukari mine in Egypt, which joined through the Centamin deal in late 2024. The company describes its 30% absolute target against 2021 as on track, and its Pwalugu solar project in Ghana is planned to deliver part of the cut.

Agnico Eagle reported 1.36 million tonnes, or 0.39 tonnes per ounce, with intensity almost flat since 2023. It describes itself as in the lowest quartile for emissions intensity in its sector. It also points out the tension: a high gold price can push companies to expand output even as they try to cut emissions.

For a reader doing due diligence, the useful check is whether the baseline has moved and whether the target is absolute or intensity. Those two details decide how much a headline reduction really means. Tools for carbon footprint measurement can help a smaller operator start the same kind of record.

Safety, water and tailings at the big gold miners

Safety. Barrick’s case shows why one number is not enough. Its TRIFR improved 24% to 0.71, yet four people died in 2025: one at Nevada Gold Mines, one at Bulyanhulu and two at Kibali, all underground. Injury rates and fatal risk measure different things, so read both. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) publishes yearly safety benchmarks for its member companies using fatality and recordable injury rates, which is a useful outside reference.

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Water recycled or reused

Percent of water used, 2025

Security and social risk. AngloGold Ashanti reports no workplace fatalities at managed operations, but its chair’s letter also records security-related deaths at Obuasi in Ghana, from clashes between public security forces and illegal miners, and post-election violence in Tanzania that disrupted Geita. Agnico Eagle lists one significant dispute, at Fosterville in Australia, dating from 2020 and concerning low-frequency noise. These items sit outside the safety table but matter to a mine’s right to keep operating.

Water. Recycling rates range from 67% to 81% among these five. Definitions shift here too: Newmont says its fall to 67% reflects revised approaches to the calculation at some sites, so the change is not a simple decline. Barrick beat its own 80% target with 81% for the year. Gold Fields reached 74%. A high group rate says little about a single dry site, so look at site data for mines in water-stressed basins.

Tailings. Tailings are the crushed waste left after gold is extracted, usually held behind a dam. The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) is the main benchmark. Barrick says it disclosed conformance for its Extreme and Very High consequence facilities in August 2023 and for its remaining facilities in August 2025. AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields each report progress towards conformance in their 2025 reports. Newmont expects sustaining capital spending of about US$1.95 billion in 2026 to include tailings work at Cadia and Boddington.

Assurance. The World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles require companies that adopt them to obtain assurance from an independent third party. Asking whether a figure was assured, and by whom, is one of the simplest checks an investor can make. Our short guide to the best gold mining stocks for inflation covers the price side of the same question.

▶ The seven main environmental impacts of mining, explained in clay (2:31) · 2:31

Gold mining company stocks: cost and output next to ESG

An ESG record only helps a shareholder if the mines also make money. All-in sustaining cost (AISC) is the standard measure: the cost of producing an ounce, including the spending needed to keep the mine going. It is explained in more depth in our page on all-in sustaining cost.

So which gold mining companies have the lowest AISC? Of these five, Agnico Eagle and Newmont (on its by-product basis) were lowest in 2025, but by-product figures subtract income from other metals, which flatters a company with a lot of copper or silver. Kinross, a close peer with no row above, reported full-year 2025 attributable AISC of US$1,571 per gold-equivalent ounce. These are group averages for 2025, and costs have kept rising.

The World Gold Council put the global average AISC at US$1,785 per ounce in the first quarter of 2026, up 16% in a year. That was the 28th year-on-year rise in a row, led by royalties that climb with the gold price.

To buy several producers at once, some investors use a fund. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) held 63 stocks on 3 November 2026, with Newmont at 11.64%, Agnico Eagle at 11.36% and Barrick at 8.22%. Its holdings also include royalty companies such as Wheaton Precious Metals and Franco-Nevada, which do not run mines themselves. Our guide on how to buy mining royalties explains how those differ.

▶ How gold is mined and refined, step by step (5:27) · 5:27

How to invest in gold mining companies using ESG data

These steps are a way to read filings, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.

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Reading a gold miner’s ESG record in 4 steps

1. 1MinesList the main assets and countries.
2. 2RecordRead deaths, injuries and disputes over three years.
3. 3TargetsCheck baseline, scope and target type.
4. 4MarginTest cost and carbon at a cautious price.

1. Start with the mines. List each company’s main assets and countries. Risk sits at the mine, not in a group average.
2. Read the fatalities and the injury rate together. Look back at least three years.
3. Check the climate baseline. Has it been restated? Is the target absolute or intensity? Does it include Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions?
4. Look at tailings. Find the GISTM disclosure and note the number of high-consequence facilities.
5. Find disputes and government actions. Annual reports list arbitration, permit fights and community disputes in their risk and notes sections.
6. Compare margin at a cautious gold price. Use the calculator below with a price well under today’s.
7. Check who verified the data. Look for an assurance statement and its scope.

Fleet, energy and site data matter for this work too, and suppliers of fleet management and product traceability tools are among those offering it. Developers can also pull imagery through the satellite API documentation. For owners and consultants, satellite imagery can give an independent view of land disturbance around a site. It does not replace an environmental audit.

Seven trends for gold mining company stocks

We chose these because each one appears in 2025 or 2026 company reports or World Gold Council data. They are in no ranked order.

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Average gold price

US$ per troy ounce, annual average; 2025 is an estimate

1. A high but volatile gold price

Spot gold was about US$4,130 per ounce on 5 November 2026 (JM Bullion), after touching US$5,595 in January 2026 according to the World Gold Council. A fall of that size shows how fast the margin on a mining share can change. The USGS annual average was about US$3,300 in 2025, an estimate.

2. Rising costs

Royalties were the largest driver of the latest rise in AISC. They grew from about 6% of the average cost base in early 2021 to 12% in early 2026, the World Gold Council says.

3. Host governments wanting more

Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali was under provisional administration from June to December 2025, and the company says it resolved the disputes and regained control. Gold Fields says it is preparing to negotiate the renewal of its Tarkwa mining leases in Ghana. Africa and Latin America hold much of the growth, and the same places carry this risk. The question of which gold exploration companies hold ground there is worth asking too.

4. Consolidation and portfolio clean-ups

Gold Fields completed its Gold Road Resources deal in September 2025, taking the Gruyere mine in Australia to full ownership. AngloGold Ashanti added Sukari with Centamin in 2024 and sold Serra Grande in Brazil in December 2025. Newmont sold non-core mines. Each move can change a company’s emissions, baselines and risk mix, which is why year-on-year ESG comparisons need care.

5. Tailings and closure costs moving up the agenda

Spending on tailings is now a visible part of sustaining capital. It affects AISC, so the environmental line and the cost line are linked.

6. Decarbonisation through bought power

Several of the projects named in these reports are power deals, not new mining equipment. Newmont cites the Rye wind park for about 40% of Cadia’s energy needs and a future power supply at Boddington that it expects to cut site emissions by up to 70% over time. It also says it found contractual issues with a few power agreements, so these savings are not guaranteed.

7. Recycled gold and record mine output

Mines are not the only supply. The World Gold Council’s second-quarter 2026 data shows mine production of 966 tonnes, a record for a second quarter, and recycled gold of 326 tonnes, down 6% on the year. Recycling, sometimes called urban mining, has lower mining impact but tends to follow the price. World mine output was about 3,300 tonnes in 2025, on the USGS estimate.

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Is gold mining ESG performance linked to share returns?

The reports above do not show that high ESG scores earn a valuation premium, and a clean link is hard to prove because the gold price swamps most other factors over a year or two. What the reports do show is cost: a fatal accident can stop a shaft, as Barrick’s report describes for one 2025 stoppage, and a dispute with a government can take a whole mine out of a company’s output for months. Treat ESG data as a way to find operating risk, not a promise of better returns.

Frequently asked questions

Which gold mining companies focus on ESG?

All five majors here publish sustainability data and climate targets. A better test than stated focus is the record: deaths, emissions against target, tailings conformance and outside assurance, each for the latest year.

What is ESG-compliant gold investment?

There is no single legal standard for it. The term usually means investing in companies that report against recognised frameworks, such as the World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles or the GISTM tailings standard. Check what a fund or company means by it.

Which gold mining companies have the lowest AISC?

Among these five, Agnico Eagle at US$1,339 and Newmont at US$1,358 on a by-product basis were lowest for 2025. Newmont’s co-product figure was US$1,609. Smaller mid-tier miners are not in this table.

Are gold mining stocks a good investment?

That depends on your goals and risk limits, and this page cannot answer it for you. Shares carry the gold price risk plus operating, cost and country risk, so they can move further than the metal in either direction.

How do you invest in gold mining companies?

Most people buy listed shares through a broker, or a fund such as GDX that holds many miners. Private project stakes are a different and much riskier route. Read annual reports first, and take licensed advice if you need it.

Which gold miner had the highest water recycling rate?

Barrick, at 81% for 2025, among the five here. Agnico Eagle and Gold Fields each reported 74%.

Which gold miners had no deaths?

Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti (at managed operations) and Gold Fields reported no work-related fatalities for 2025. Newmont then had one at Tanami in February 2026.

What is the gold mining stocks outlook?

Margins are wide at today’s price, but costs are rising and the price has fallen sharply from its January 2026 peak. No one can forecast the next move reliably, so test each company at several prices.

Which regions matter most for gold mining growth?

Output is spread across many regions. USGS data lists China, Russia and Australia among the largest producers. For African production growth, read each company’s guidance and its mine-by-mine forecasts directly.

What does Scope 3 mean for a gold miner?

Scope 3 covers emissions outside the company’s direct control, such as its supply chain. Newmont reported 5.7 million tonnes for 2025, more than its Scope 1 and 2 total, so a target that leaves Scope 3 out covers only part of the footprint.

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