Anglo American publishes Sustainable Development Report

Anglo American has published its 14th annual Sustainable Development Report, detailing the global diversified mining company’s sustainability performance for 2014. The focus of this year’s report is effective partnerships and collaboration with key stakeholders, which Anglo American believes are essential for a sustainable future for the mining industry.

Sir John Parker, Chairman of Anglo American, commented: “One of the greatest challenges facing Anglo American, and the mining industry as a whole, is reconciling the different views and concerns of our stakeholders about how mining should be conducted. At Anglo American, we believe the solution lies in forging the effective partnerships we need to build safe, sustainable businesses and ensure long-term shareholder value.

“We believe in the benefits of a smarter approach but this does not mean operating alone. Our sustainability performance is critical to our ability to drive value for all of our stakeholders – we simply will not be able to make progress unless we can take our key constituencies along with us on of our journey. We must all be in this together.”

Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, welcomed the report, commenting: “Our vision of long-term partnership with our stakeholders reflects our belief that, for us to be successful, we need to co-create a new deal around our core mining business. We will only be able to continue to deliver returns to shareholders if, in the eyes of our key stakeholders, we continue to build on this vision by delivering value to and with broader society. Getting this right is ‘mission-critical’ for Anglo American if we are to make a positive difference and achieve that vision of being partners in the future.”

Safety: Providing a safe and healthy workplace.

• Throughout 2014, Anglo American made progress towards its goal to achieve zero harm in the workplace. The company’s lost time injury frequency rate improved for the third consecutive year by 29%.
• In 2014, four employees and two contractors lost their lives in work-related activities at operations managed by Anglo American The company worked four months fatality-free in 2014, which reinforces the belief that zero harm is achievable.
• Over a 12 month period, Anglo American focused on raising awareness of safe driving practices and improving road infrastructure through road safety lectures, meetings and workshops at the Niobium and Phosphates businesses in Goiás state, Brazil. The project has contributed to enhanced road safety in the area, with a 70% reduction in the number of lives lost over the campaign period.

Enterprise Development: Supporting the development of new businesses is recognised as one of the most effective means of ensuring that communities benefit from mining over the long-term.

• Since 2008, the company has supported 96 873 jobs, provided more than US$100 million in funding and supported 58 257 SMEs inside and outside our supply chains.
• The company’s enterprise development programmes are designed to foster entrepreneurs’ potential to build local capacity and to ensure that the local economy is able to deliver opportunities even after mine closure.
• The company’s well-established schemes – Zimele in South Africa and Emerge in Chile – have supported 38 300 jobs. Based on the experience with these schemes, Anglo American developed a best-practice model, which is used to implement similar schemes in Botswana and Brazil in 2013, and in Peru in 2014.
• These three programmes have supported 1588 jobs in 2014. Anglo American aim to support an additional 3000 jobs by the end of 2015 and close to 10 000 by the end of 2016.

Water: With more than 70% of the company’s mines located in water stressed areas, water is more important than ever to Anglo American.

• In 2014, for the second year running, the company exceeded the 2020 water savings target of 14%. By the end of 2014, the company had achieved an estimated 16% water saving against the projected water usage.
• Anglo American’s total water consumption decreased from 201 million m3 in 2013 to 195 million m3 in 2014. This reduction was primarily achieved through higher levels of water recycling at the Los Bronces copper mine in Chile, the limited production at Platinum’s Rustenburg operations during the strike, as well as water savings achieved through the implementation of the Water Efficiency Target Tool (WETT) programme.
• Of the total operational water requirements, 69% were met by recycling/re-using water.

Health: Managing health risks protects Anglo American’s employees and communities, enhances productivity, and helps to ensure the long-term future of the business.

• In 2014, Anglo American continued to drive improvements across its occupational health and community health programmes by focusing on innovation and partnerships.
• Testing is a large component of the comprehensive wellness programme of prevention, care, support and treatment for HIV and AIDS. In 2014, the company tested and counselled nearly 110 000 employees and contractors in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
• During the year, 86% of the company’s full-time workforce participated in testing, which means that Anglo American is approaching the UNAIDS target that 90% of people living with HIV should know their status by 2020.

Climate Change and Energy: Climate change poses a significant business challenge. Energy and policy-associated costs are rising, consumer demand for products is changing, and the threat of the physical impact of climate change on operations and host communities is escalating.

• A total of 325 projects completed to date accounted for energy savings of 4.3 million GJ, equivalent to a 5% reduction against the projected energy consumption in 2014, reducing the company’s energy cost by US$105 million.
• Similarly, the company’s greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 4.2 million t. This means Anglo American are in reach of overall targets for greenhouse gas (GHG)-emission and energy-consumption reductions — 19% and 7% respectively, by 2015.

Adapted from press release by Joseph Green

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