Golden handshake for rhino savers

Operator of the Otjikoto Gold Mine, B2Gold Namibia announced it will support the conservation and protection activities of the Save the Rhino Trust with N$3 million over the next three years equalling roughly one million a year.

B2Gold made this commitment at a networking event hosted in partnership with the Namibian Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS).
A symbolic B2Gold sponsorship cheque was jointly handed to the trust’s CEO, Simson Uri-Khob by Mark Dawe, the Managing Director of B2Gold Namibia and Dr Malan Lindeque, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment & Tourism.
Uri-Khob gave an update on the activities of trust and the current state of rhino poaching emphasising that the fight against poaching requires all stakeholders to work together, from grassroots community level upwards. “We will only win the war against poaching if all stakeholders take hands” he said.
The Save the Rhino Trust is internationally recognized as an expert in the field of black rhino conservation and a leading example of community-based, grassroots conservation. Through their work, the black rhino has come back from the brink of extinction. Now these animals face a new wave of poaching driven by international crime syndicates. The trust relies solely on the support of local and international donors for their conversation work.
B2Gold has an established Corporate Social Responsibility programme that supports community projects in education, health, livelihood (SME) development and environmental conservation. It will spend in excess of N$13 million on CSR in 2015.