Creating Value with the Future in Mind - Anglo American South Africa

Our approach building relationships with stakeholders
Building relationships
with stakeholders
Being responsive to the interests and concerns
of our stakeholders is fundamental to creating
shared value through partnership and forms
a critical part of our ambition to become the
leading global mining company.
EXECUTIVE
support for
sustainability
in the supply
chain
Continuously improving and maintaining
positive relationships with our
stakeholders is one of our principal
priorities and challenges. We believe
that establishing relationships built on
trust is fundamental to our ability to
create value, but recognise that many
stakeholders currently have low levels
of trust in business generally.
In the table opposite we identify our
main stakeholder groups, outline our
approach to listening to and engaging
each of these groups, and describe
the channels of engagement and the
principal issues raised. We also briefly
review our response to these issues.
In addition to these various channels
of engagement, we maintain a
web-based, Group-wide complaints
and grievance procedure to record
and respond to stakeholder feedback,
providing remedy where appropriate.
We also conduct regular reviews
of media coverage of the key
sustainability issues facing our
business, industry sector and
stakeholders.
While the specific interests and
concerns of our stakeholders typically
vary by stakeholder group and region,
our dialogue processes during the year
highlighted several priority concerns
across most stakeholder groups.
Issues that received particular
attention include:
••
The dispute over the Anglo American
Sur purchase option with state
mining company Codelco in Chile
••
The nature of the relationship
between mining companies,
government and labour organisations
in South Africa following the labour
disputes and related unrest
••
Concerns regarding the platinum
mining industry, our exposure to this
sector, and our approach to
addressing this challenge
••
Specific challenges relating to the
delivery of the Minas-Rio iron ore
project in Brazil
••
Changing regulatory and societal
expectations regarding the roles
and responsibilities of business.
Anglo American brought senior
leaders from more than 50 of
its significant South African
contracting companies together
in November to discuss the
safety, health and well-being of
contractors working on our sites.
The summit, hosted by chief
executive Cynthia Carroll in
Johannesburg, was a chance to
discuss our new requirements
for contracting companies to
provide a basic healthcare
package for long-term contractors
working on our sites. This will
include diagnosis, counselling,
care, support and treatment for
HIV infection and tuberculosis,
and will be subsidised by
Anglo American and delivered
through our extensive network
of healthcare facilities.
The CEOs spent time discussing
the requirements and identifying
ways to implement them.
“Looking at the feedback, I
believe we met one of the main
objectives to engage and inspire
people to do things differently,”
says Linda Wedderburn,
Anglo American’s global lead for
sustainable, responsible supply
chain. “Everyone has a clear
understanding of what is expected
and together we have explored
the best way to move forward”.
Image
Group director business performance
and projects, David Weston, addresses
the summit.
14 Anglo American plc Sustainable Development Report 2012