Sustainable development

Overview

In defining new frontiers of operational and people performance in the mining industry, we have blended our strategic thrusts (customer relationships, growth, best operator, sustainable development, talent and performance management) into the theme of this year’s annual report – sustainability.

We spent the last year defining what sustainable development means for Kumba. As a result we have:

• Appointed a corporate SHE (safety, health and environment) and sustainable development manager.
• Appointed a consulting firm to assist in developing our framework for sustainable development management.
• Met the requirements of the JSE Socially Responsible Investment Index and became one of the few new companies on this index.

We believe the rate of progress towards sustainability in Kumba will be accelerated by the degree to which we capitalise on resources and shared experiences – the wider Anglo American plc group and others. For example, we are already using the Anglo American mine closure toolbox, the socio-economic assessment toolbox, and fatal risk standards. Kumba also participates in various Anglo American plc forums, contributing our own successes and experience.

In line with best practice in sustainability reporting, Kumba is taking an incremental approach to reporting on its performance. While we have taken cognisance of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) version 3 guideline, and aimed to comply with this report as an application level C+ reporter, our main aim is to focus on material issues to our business.

This report outlines our approach to sustainable development management. We focus on people with namely the safety and health of our workforce and contractors and our commitment to training and development, and the environment – the ongoing management of our direct and indirect impacts. These are covered in detail for people matters, and for the environment. The report also outlines the way we manage sustainable development; from the committees that provide leadership and strategic direction, to the people and their systems which talk, measure, monitor and report. Kumba appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc to verify key elements of our triple bottom-line performance. This unqualified report is included in this report.