Reaffirming its commitment to providing employer- assisted home ownership solutions for employees, platinum mining major Impala Platinum (Implats) has handed over the first completed houses to new homeowners at its second home-ownership flagship project development, Platinum Village, in Rustenburg, in the North West.

Speaking at the handover ceremony earlier this month, Implats CEO Terence Goodlace high- lighted the event as “a proud moment for Implats” and the company’s commitment to improving accommodation and living conditions for mineworkers as the most significant of Implats’ contributions.

“Through this investment, Implats seeks to create communities where employees can reside with their families in a stable, healthy and secure environ- ment within commuting distance of their places of work. The company, therefore, actively promotes home ownership and has enabled many employees to become homeowners for the first time,” he said.

The Platinum Village development was initiated last year as part of the mining company’s accommodation strategy. The R1-billion development will be executed in phases, with a final target of 2 420 units. Phase 1 is currently under way and should deliver 557 houses with 300 due for completion by the end of the year.

Implats’ focus on improving employees’ housing and living conditions is informed by its accommodation strategy, conceived in 2007, which highlights the need to convert all hostels into single-person dwellings and promote home ownership and community development.

The housing programme started that year at the company’s flagship housing development project, Sunrise View, in Boitekong, Rustenburg. The development, constructed and funded by Implats, is now complete, with 1 717 houses built and sold at cost price to employees.

In addition to these developments, Implats delivered 108 housing units in August, close to its refining operations, in Springs, as part of the R36-million Tswelopele home ownership project. Further, the company is constructing another 122 houses in Burgersfort, Limpopo, near its Marula platinum mine, at a cost of R58-million.

Implats has also developed social amenities within its host communities to deliver on the company’s objective of having 50% of its employees residing with their families by 2020 in high-quality family-orientated accommodation.

In line with this goal, the company will further develop inte- grated residential suburbs in addi- tion to providing quality single-person and family accommodation to fulfil the expectations of the Mining Charter.

“Given the challenging social context of the country, we at Implats strongly believe in getting involved and investing in social development initiatives, particularly in the communities that are home to our employees and their families,” commented Goodlace.

He added that the company’s extensive corporate social investment programmes focused on ensuring the success and well- being of these areas and that Implats “constructively contributes” to the establishment of communities that are “viable and sustainable beyond the life of [Implats’] mining activities”.