TSX- and NYSE-listed B2Gold continues to maintain a high local employment rate, with 97% of the total workforce across all its operations being local employees.

The company, which on Friday released its third ‘Responsible Mining Report’, pointed out that it also continues to prioritise gender diversity among employees at its operations.

Further, B2Gold proactively conducts human rights assessments at its operations, with four of its five mining sites having been assessed, and the fifth to be assessed this year.

The human rights assessments comply with the company’s human rights commitments and performance standards and are aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles and other international standards and guidelines.

The company is also proud of its health and safety performance.

“2018 was B2Gold's third consecutive year without a fatality,” it pointed out, adding that, for a second consecutive year, it met or exceeded its safety performance targets, reducing its lost-time-injury frequency rate globally by over 50%.

Meanwhile, B2Gold generated more than $1.2-billion in economic value in 2018, and distributed $152-million in employee wages and benefits, about $171-million in taxes and royalties and more than $21-million in community investments.

The report also highlighted the company's best practice of progressive rehabilitation applied at its Masbate operations, in the Philippines.

Further, the company continues to make progress on climate change reporting and the report highlighted the positive impacts from the solar power plant established at its Otjikoto mine, in Namibia, in April 2018.

B2Gold said the report demonstrated its commitment to responsible mining.

"We make a genuine commitment to stakeholders to deliver on the promises we make and be a responsible company. Our 2018 Responsible Mining Report demonstrates our execution on these promises.

"Our culture, based on our core principles of fairness, respect, transparency and accountability, is entrenched in our company. What we learned from 2018 is that we can work for B2Gold and be responsible every day."