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

Overview
01 Board members (left to
right) Sir John Parker,
Jack Thompson and
Peter Woicke at an
Anglo American-funded
community training
centre near the
Minas-Rio iron ore
project in Brazil.
Jack Thompson is to
succeed Peter Woicke
as chairman of the S&SD
Committee of the Board
in April 2013.
02 At a viewing point
overlooking Minas-Rio,
Sir John Parker (left)
in discussion with
beneficiation plant
implementation director
Marcos Milo and
operations director
Rodrigo Vilela.
01
02
Our Board Safety and Sustainable Development (S&SD)
Committee scrutinises all aspects of our sustainability
performance. In recent years, the committee has invited our
NGO partners, and other third parties with S&SD expertise,
to offer their evaluation and advice on key issues. In 2012,
the committee welcomed presentations from CARE
International on its health and education work in partnership
with Anglo American, the ICMM on mining’s contribution to
sustainable development and from PwC on the results of
their annual audit of our Group’s SD reporting.
Our newly strengthened risk processes not only ensure that
a standard approach to risk identification and reporting is
adopted, but also that significant operational-level risks
are assessed by the Board’s S&SD and Audit committees
as appropriate, and the full Board as required. Such a
connected approach ensures that the Board is fully apprised
of key issues.
Safe, responsible mining
The mining industry is one that has many inherent risks, and
as well as maximising the positives that can accrue from
mining, we also need to manage and mitigate these risks.
A significant risk area for mining (especially deep-level
operations such as our own) and one that is of the highest
importance to us, is safety. We retain an unerring focus on
safety and I, as chairman, make sure it is the first item on the
agenda at every Anglo American Board meeting. I am proud
of the progress we have made in recent years. We have
come a long way in a short time, though we recognise
there is still a lot of work to do to deliver on our vision of zero
harm. It is of great credit to our outgoing chief executive,
Cynthia Carroll, and her senior leadership team that they led
the safety agenda in such a way as to bring about real and
lasting change in the way we approach safety. I know that
our new chief executive, Mark Cutifani, is also determined
to take a personal lead on this most fundamental of issues.
Being a responsible miner also means taking a serious
approach to environmental stewardship. It is our
responsibility to minimise and mitigate potential
environmental risks that could affect our business
or stakeholders.
With so many of our operations in water-stressed regions,
water and climate change are two of the greatest concerns
to our business. Our unique partnership approach enables
our host communities and local authorities, together with
NGOs, business and other stakeholders, to benefit from
our activities. Our Eastern Limb water project will provide
almost two million people in South Africa’s Limpopo
province with safe water and our eMalahleni water
reclamation plant will supply 50 megalitres of potable water
to the local municipality in the near future. I am pleased to
report that operational excellence in water management is
being embedded across the Group, with 72% of our water
requirements being met by recycling and re-using water.
We are also seeking to reduce dependency on high-quality
water by switching to the use of lower-water-quality grades
where this is practicable; potable water now accounts for
only 18% of our total water needs.
We continue to engage in the global debate around climate
change and how carbon-pricing mechanisms can be used
to reduce carbon emissions, while, on the ground, we
remain invested in clean coal research and development
and the commercialisation of fuel cells in South Africa. In
our own business, we are developing a framework for new
projects to implement climate-change adaptation strategies.
With the future in mind
At Anglo American, we are deeply aware of the extractive
industry’s unique capacity to make a transformative impact
in building national wealth, especially in the many areas of
the globe where extractive companies are often the only
significant economic actor. This is a duty we take very
seriously and for which we are prepared to explore new
areas where we can take the lead. I believe that it is through
such constant pushing of boundaries that our industry will
be able to continue to deliver to the optimal benefit of all our
stakeholders into the future.
Sir John Parker
Chairman
Anglo American plc Sustainable Development Report 2012 03