Context & Objectives
Onora, a global uranium producer, member of the ICMM and operating in Kazakhstan, Canada, and Mongolia is facing complex sustainability challenges tied to environmental impact, community relations, and regulatory compliance.
Objectives
Onora has mandated Astragal to assess and improve compliance with ICMM principles across the three countries, focusing on:
- Environmental protection (water use, tailings management, rehabilitation).
- Community and indigenous relations (consultation, grievance resolution).
- Worker safety and health (radiation monitoring, training, emergency response).
Our Approach
Headquarters audits
ICMM gap analysis, consultation with contributors on topics managed at headquarters (e.g. anti-bribery policies).
Site audits
- Kazakhstan: water stewardship and legacy contamination focus: water management practices, tailings storage safety, and rehabilitation of historical mining sites
- Canada: indigenous engagement & regulatory compliance focus: Compliance with indigenous consultation laws (e.g. UNDRIP) and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (IAA)
- Mongolia: community development & economic balance focus: local employment, economic contributions, and grievance mechanisms.
Recommendations (extract)
- Cross-country priorities: deploy unified CSR dashboards across all sites to collect and aggregate ICMM KPIs and step-up more regular meetings with stakeholders (government, communities, Onora’s CSR department) to track progress
- Country-specific roadmaps: reduce freshwater consumption in Kazakhstan and set up vocational training for women in Mongolia.
Outcomes
At headquarter level
- Increased stakeholder engagement via quarterly forums to review progress
- CSR team budget re-allocation (15%) on high impact topics
- Third-party audits of grievance mechanisms to ensure transparency
At site level
- Closed-loop water system pilot in Kazakhstan.
- Indigenous employment plan in Canada.