Communities

Building resilient communities

To be productive, safe, responsible and sustainable, our operations must live alongside thriving communities.

They are the places our people call home, our closest neighbours, and stewards of the land entrusted to us for a period of time. So we work together with local government, community leaders, and NGOs to contribute to community needs: from housing and infrastructure to healthcare, education and recreation.

That’s why in our FutureSmart Mining^TM Sustainability Strategy, one of the three main pillars is to support thriving communities – alongside being a trusted corporate leader and to maintain a healthy environment.

And under the thriving communities pillar, we have set a stretch goals to 2030, including to:

• Create five jobs off-site for every job on-site in the communities in which we operate
• Help targeted schools in host communities perform along the top 20% of state schools

Our social partners

We recognise that our mining operations are located in areas where sustainable social and economic development is most needed. Our goal is to go beyond compliance with legal requirements as we strive for excellence and best practice in development.

Ensuring mutually beneficial relationships with our host communities is central to Kumba's responsibility to society. We believe that we share the benefits from our business fairly with our stakeholders, balancing what is needed with what is possible.

Our five pillars of community engagement and development comprise

• Building local businesses – contributing to enterprise development at local levels to help local economies thrive
• Encouraging education – creating and growing educational projects from early childhood development to tertiary level by ensuring young people are taught by competent, qualified teachers in suitable facilities
• Developing skills – offering portable and technical skills development programmes to young people and those leaving our employ
• Keeping communities healthy – ensuring our communities, our employees and their dependants have access to well-run and equipped health and welfare facilities
• Investing in infrastructure – helping to build and maintain the infrastructure that makes our communities healthy and welcoming places

Becoming part of the community

Our social licence to operate depends on our harmonious co-existence with the communities in which we operate. This hinges on regular engagement with our stakeholders, fostering relations and forming partnerships. Based on our vision of becoming a developmental partner of choice to these communities, we also seek to understand their traditional rights and cultural heritages.

We aim for candid and transparent interactions and to create a positive legacy that will last well beyond the life of our mines. Another objective is to minimise and mitigate any adverse impacts our activities may have on the communities. The effective management of social issues is a necessary element of good overall operational management, and a source of competitive advantage.