https://www.miningweekly.com

Implats reports significant ESG progress for this year

26th October 2020

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

Font size: - +

Platinum group metals miner Impala Platinum (Implats) made significant progress on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals during this year, as highlighted in its ESG report released on October 26.

Referring to the miner’s workforce specifically, a statement by social, transformation and remuneration committee chairperson Mpho Nkeli notes that the group “maintained strong and collaborative relations” with employees and union representatives during the year, which contributed to the signing of new wage agreements with recognised unions for the Impala Rustenburg and Marula operations in November 2019.

As a result of robust operational performance improvements and higher commodity prices, Impala Rustenburg significantly revised its restructuring plans, avoiding the proposed closure of Shaft 1 and securing the jobs of about 2 800 own and contractor employees.

Nkeli says the company remains committed to minimising the number of forced retrenchments through employee reskilling and retraining initiatives and redeployment to other shafts.

Additionally, with gender imbalances having long been a feature of the mining industry, Implats’ report indicates that the company is making progress on promoting greater female representation across the business, including through recruitment and talent development.

The group’s commitment to gender diversity is reflected in Implats’ inclusion in the Bloomberg 2020 Gender-Equality Index, which recognises companies committed to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality in the workplace

At year-end, Implats had 197 females in management positions (22%) across the group.

At Implats’ South African operations, women made up 12% of the total workforce, with 9% in the core disciplines of mining, engineering, projects and metallurgy remaining unchanged from 2019.

However, female representation at board level improved from 38% in 2019 to 46% this year.

“Our focus in 2021 and beyond is to improve female representation at junior management level at the South African operations, as we strive to meet challenging Mining Charter III targets in this category,” Nkeli comments, lamenting that addressing income and wealth inequality remains one of South Africa’s greatest challenges.

The Gini coefficient, which measures the income distribution of a nation’s residents, ranges from zero to one, with zero representing a completely egalitarian income distribution and one representing extreme inequality.

This year, Implats’ internal Gini coefficient at its South African operations was 0.266, versus 0.252 in 2019; which compares favourably with the national coefficient of 0.436 and the mining industry coefficient of 0.416.

COVID-19

To make a positive social contribution through addressing a deficit in host community medical response measures, Implats donated 1 700 Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to the Department of Health and conducted a further 1 259 PCR tests on community members.

After an initial emphasis on distributing Covid-19 education materials, food parcels and basic goods, Implats donated over R20-million to various community-related Covid-19 efforts in South Africa, C$80 000 in Canada and a further $172 000 in Zimbabwe.

“While this support has strengthened Implats’ relations with communities and other stakeholders, we are nonetheless mindful that the pandemic’s long-term implications for livelihoods, could stoke tensions,” Nkeli says, reporting, however, that there have been no operational disruptions owing to mine-related community unrest at any of the company’s operations since March 2019.

In the coming year, Implats intends to conclude the restructuring and re-establishment of the Mine Community Leadership Engagement Forum at Impala Rustenburg to ensure that information about social investments, procurement and employment opportunities “flows unabated to our communities”.

In Zimbabwe, host communities continue to be negatively impacted on by the significant economic challenges facing the country, which have been further aggravated by the five-week Covid-19 lockdown and a persistent severe drought.

Zimplats has maintained a strong focus in responding to national disasters and has committed $305 000 in humanitarian food assistance for the areas surrounding its operations for the period from June to December this year.

In Canada, the Lac des Iles operation works closely with its local indigenous communities, including consultation on all permit applications and renewals. The operation remains committed to building and growing long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with all its key stakeholders.

Taking all of this into account, Implats states in its report that it maintains a strategic focus on creating shared value through its supply chains, channelling the benefits of mining more directly, and more sustainably, to local communities.

The coronavirus pandemic has become the most prevalent health challenge facing Implats’ employees and their families and communities and the group’s robust health strategy has underpinned its leading response to managing Covid-19 across its operations.

The comprehensive response plans against Covid-19 included early education of employees and communities on the pandemic, as well as the development and implementation of best practice governance procedures and practices, with focused weekly executive team review meetings.

Implats also consulted with key stakeholders concerning the provision of large supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as the identification and protection of vulnerable employees with comorbidities and the recruitment of additional locum doctors and professional nursing staff to deal with the projected numbers of patients.

At year-end, Implats had conducted about 5 207 Covid-19 tests, recording 528 confirmed cases and 238 recoveries, but sadly also four Covid-19-related deaths at its managed operations.

CONTINUED EFFORTS

The company’s improved operational and financial performance over the last two years and the positive price environment for palladium and rhodium have supported efforts to increase local procurement opportunities.

In 2020, Implats spent over R1.2-billion on local-to-site procurement, accounting for 16% of total supplier expenditure. While a decrease from 2019’s R1.7-billion spend, Implats explains that the decrease in spend is as a result of reduced commercial activity following the national lockdown and the acquisition by a multinational of a host community supplier in South Africa with whom the company conducted a substantial amount of business.

In terms of responsible environmental stewardship, Implats has maintained good performance across key areas of responsible environmental stewardship, not recording a ‘major’ (level 5) or ‘significant’ (level 4) environmental incident at any of its operations since 2013.

However, this year there were 16 limited-impact (level 3) incidents - a 30% reduction on the 23 incidents recorded in 2019. None of the incidents resulted in any lasting harm to the environment, Implats notes.

Water security continues to remain a critical priority and Implats says it continues to improve its efforts to increase the use of recycled water.

In 2020, 44% of total water consumed was recycled water, against a group target of 40%.

“We remain committed to the transparent disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities for our business. This year, we narrowly missed our Scope 1 (direct) emissions reduction targets that were set on a 2017 base year,” Nkeli says.

She explains that progress was challenged by Impala Rustenburg’s new and deeper operations at 16 and 20 Shaft which require greater energy for transportation, ventilation and refrigeration.

Implats has, therefore, embarked on a process of reviewing the group’s carbon emissions reduction targets in line with regulatory expectations as a minimum, while also considering a science-based target approach.

Performance measures this year also included a 60% target for the reuse, recycling or recovery of non-mineral waste produced at Implats operations.

Even though the lockdown period negatively impacted on the miner’s waste management efforts, it still recycled 69% non-mineral waste generated, slightly down on the 70% recycled in 2019.

To contribute to the circular economy, Impala Rustenburg launched a project to re-mine tailings in its dormant facility, and the operations’ progressive end-of-life shaft closure decommissioning and rehabilitation programme is delivering “pleasing” results.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION