Platinum miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) hosted Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant at the official handover ceremony of a number of the company’s social and labour plan (SLP) projects in Rustenburg, in the North West, earlier this month.

The projects included the official opening of the Seraleng Clinic, as well as the handover of the Paardekraal piggery, the Photsaneng Primary School computer centre and the upgrading of sports fields and the opening of libraries at Tlhage, Mfidikwe, Tlhabane West and Photsaneng primary schools and Tshukudu Secondary School.

Amplats chairperson Mohammed Valli Moosa gave the Deputy Minister, along with other government officials and industry stakeholders, a tour of some of these SLPs.

Speaking to Mining Weekly on the sidelines of the event, Amplats corporate affairs executive director Seara Macheli-Mkhabela explained that the company had 11 SLPs in the region, with a number of them being in operation from as far back as 2011, and others having been completed over the past two years.

“Our SLPs assist local communities on three main issues, namely education, agriculture and health services,” she pointed out. “Macheli-Mkhabela said the company enjoyed good relations with local communities who were “deeply appreciative” of how Amplats’ SLPs had uplifted their communities.

Further, she highlighted that, despite the company having sold its Rustenburg Platinum mining and concentrating operations to precious metals miner Sibanye in 2016, it would continue to support the communities in which it once operated mines.

Macheli-Mkhabela pointed out that, between 2011 and 2016, the company had spent in excess of R300-million on its SLPs in the region.

“We work with communities to help create mutual trust and success. Only by working together can we change the way people think about resource development and about how we can make a valuable difference to the everyday lives of people in our communities.

“As a responsible miner, we take all our environmental and social obligations seriously. To be productive, safe, responsible and sustainable, our operations must live alongside thriving communities.