Limpopo Business 2019-20 edition

INTERVIEW Safety first

INTERVIEW Safety first at Venetia Mine Gerrie Nortje, General Manager at Venetia Mine, outlines all the steps that are taken to keep miners as safe as possible. Gerrie Nortje, General Manager at Venetia Mine BIOGRAPHY Gerrie Nortje began his career with Anglo American in 1997 as a bursar studying Mining Engineering. On completion of his degree, he worked at various Anglo American Thermal Coal operations before becoming Operations Manager at Xstrata. He re-joined Anglo American as a Principal Mining Engineer and transitioned into a Lead Open Pit Mining role during 2014 as a member of the Technical and Sustainability team. At head office he was involved with a variety of projects across the group’s business units. What are the key principles behind keeping a mineoperation safe? All mines should be constructed and operated as per the design to eliminate and, where not possible, mitigate risk in every part of the process. Quantifying the risks to which our employees and communities are exposed forms a key pillar in Safety Management. Engineering controls remain the most effective and as a result are the highest on the hierarchy of controls. At De Beers and Venetia Mine, we pride ourselves in our first value, which is “Putting Safety First”. This means that all our employees and contractors are empowered to work safely, stop unsafe work, withdraw from an unsafe area and escalate any unsafe conditions. This is an expectation from every employee. The safety culture and one of transparency and collaboration is absolutely critical. Not tolerating risk and being unconditional about safety every single day remains paramount in succeeding. Fatigue management is also important. What programmes are in place to promote safety? We have in excess of 20 workstreams focusing on elimination of fatalities. Controls keep people safe and critical controls keep people alive. We are improving all our critical controls and verifications. What are some of your achievements in tackling safety? Before we talk about successes, we should first reflect on the tragic death of Maggie Semata on 25 March 2018 in the ore-processing plant at Venetia. The loss was devastating for Maggie’s family, everyone at Venetia Mine, De Beers Group and Anglo American. I have taken a stance that no Venetian will lose his or her life ever again. Is Zero Harm achievable? There is no doubt that Zero Harm is achievable. Some departments at Venetia have never suffered an injury in 27 years since commencement of operations. Will mechanisation assist in advancing safety? Removing employees from harm’s way will remain one of the most effective measures, so yes it will. Mechanisation and automation play a critical role in keeping our employees safe. It also provides opportunities for employees to develop other skill sets. LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2019/20 56

INTERVIEW Moving more Giants Project aims to translocate 300 elephants. The second translocation of elephants from the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR) in South Africa to Zinave National Park in Mozambique has taken place. The first herds of elephants made the 1 700km road journey to Zinave in the last week of June 2019. The final herds arrived at Zinave on 11 July​, bringing the total number of elephants moved in 2019 to 53. During the first phase of the project, 48 elephants were translocated. These elephants, moved in family groups, consisted of matriarchs, younger males and females, and calves. Those elephants have been seen integrating with other herds at Zinave and have been thriving with more space and food now available to them. The translocation is part of a major conservation effort – “Moving Giants” – that aims to move some 200 elephants over three years to secure the future of the VLNR, which was under threat due to too many elephants affecting the broader ecosystem, and to help repopulate Mozambique’s elephant population. VLNR is partnering with Peace Parks Foundation, a transfrontier conservation organisation whose aim is to re-establish, renew and preserve large functional ecosystems, and Conservation Solutions, experts in wildlife management whose team manage the challenging logistics and veterinary care of the elephants throughout the process. Peace Parks co-manage Zinave National Park with the Mozambique government and have ongoing responsibility for the wellbeing of the elephants. Werner Myburgh, CEO, Peace Parks Foundation, said, “The future of the African elephant is bleak in most parts of Africa, except for the southern Africa region where the outlook on their population numbers are stable and even, in some cases, increasing. Zinave National Park in Mozambique is one of these places and brings hope as a new founder population is on the rise.” Anglo American is backing up its investment in the elephant translocation initiative by providing Peace Parks with a further US0 000 investment from the Anglo American Foundation to enhance and extend anti-poaching support measures. Peace Parks has been working with local communities to ensure that the introduction of the elephants to the park has a positive impact for their human neighbours. 57 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2019/20