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Healthy environment

A key part of our FutureSmart MiningTM Sustainability Strategy is to maintain a healthy environment. It’s one of the three global sustainability pillars of the strategy, alongside being a trusted corporate leader and to support thriving communities. 

We ultimately are aiming for a future where we have created waterless, carbon neutral mines and we deliver positive biodiversity outcomes.

As part of this, we have set ourselves stretch goals for 2030, including:

  • Reduce net GHG emissions by 30%
  • Improve energy efficiency by 30%
  • Reduce the abstraction of freshwater in water-scarce regions by 50%

http://www.angloamerican.com/futuresmart

Responsibly managing the environment

To maintain a resilient business we need to minimise and mitigate our environmental impacts in the short and long term to ensure a sustainable future. Failure to effectively manage our environmental footprint will result in conflict with many of our stakeholders, including our host communities and regulators, and could result in us losing our licence to operate.

We are keenly focused on managing our environmental impacts, including preventing pollution, minimising our emissions, using water and other resources efficiently and ensuring legal compliance, among others. To achieve this, we require the full participation of all our colleagues.

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Water

We require high volumes of water for our activities; this is of increasing significance given that our operations are in water-stressed areas. To maintain our licence to operate, we take all reasonable steps to ensure that we do not degrade water quality or compromise the access rights of other users. In the Northern Cape, arid conditions and municipal potable water supply constraints underscore the need for responsible water management.

Latest statistics

Energy consumed

Energy consumed

6.91 (Million GJ)

Greenhouse gases

Greenhouse gases

(scope 1 and 2) 0.94 Mt CO2e

Water

Water used

for primary activities 8.0 Million m3

 

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Land stewardship beyond the life of mine

Our vision is to minimise any harm our mining operations will cause the environment by designing, operating and closing all of our mines in an environmentally responsible manner. This involves implementing biodiversity plans as well as preventing pollution through waste and dust management at all operations.

BiodiversityIcon Plus

We strive to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment as well as the flora and fauna on the land we own and manage, as well as on land adjacent to our own. Because we currently own and manage more than 82,000ha of land, we work with partners to better understand our biodiversity risks and implement best-practice management strategies. As a result, all of our operations have biodiversity action and closure plans, which are updated regularly. For us, mine closure and rehabilitation can be an opportunity for community development.

Effluents and wasteIcon Plus

While effluents are not a material challenge at our mines as we recycle and re-use as far as possible, our focus is more on management of mineral and non-mineral waste, particularly the mineral waste at our mines’ waste-rock dumps and tailings storage facilities.

Our current efforts are directed towards reducing the handling of mineral waste and rehabilitating the dumps by planting local species.

Dust controlIcon Plus

Dust and its creation are an inescapable consequence of mining, particularly mining in arid areas. We therefore have proven ways of preventing and limiting dust exposure at our operations.

Each of our mines has air-quality management plans that are reviewed and, if necessary, improved regularly. This type of monitoring helps ensure that our mines comply with air quality legislation and also helps allay the concerns that mining has given rise to a significant deterioration in air quality.

Our environmental management objectives:

Our activities result in the disturbance of land, the consumption of resources such as water and energy, the generation of mineral residue, as well as atmospheric and water emissions. We recognise that we have a legal and social responsibility to minimise our planned impacts on the environment, and to strive to eliminate unplanned events, such as unsanctioned water discharges and exceeded air emission standards. We seek to limit our impacts through effective rehabilitation measures, the provision of alternative energy and water services, and the responsible delivery of long-term socio-economic benefits.