Conserving natural resources and mitigating impacts

As a company involved in the exploration, extraction and processing of mineral resources, our activities result in the unavoidable disturbance of land, the consumption of resources, and the generation of waste and atmospheric and water pollutants.

Given these impacts, it is important that we demonstrate responsible stewardship of the resources we share with the societies in which we operate, particularly as our underground operations become deeper and consume greater amounts of energy and water. this involves taking measures not only to address security of resource supply (for example through efficiency, recycling and fuel-switching), but also to actively minimise our impacts on natural resources and on the communities around our operations. Taking such measures has direct benefits in terms of reduced costs and liabilities, enhanced resource security and improved security of our licence to operate.

An amended Implats environmental policy was published in August 2013

This year our direct environmental impacts were significantly reduced as a result of the closure of the Rustenburg operations during the five-month strike. Monitoring of the Group environmental indicators at Rustenburg was also affected. The decline in production translated into a decrease in the levels of water and energy consumed across the Group. An increase in the percentage of water recycled at all operations contributed to our improved water management performance. There were no ‘critical' environmental incidents reported.

Management developments

An amended Implats environmental policy was signed and published in August 2013. The policy commits the Company to running our exploration, mining, processing and refining operations in an environmentally responsible manner, and to ensure the well-being of our stakeholders. The policy also commits to integrating environmental management into all aspects of the business with the aim of achieving world-class environmental performance in a sustainable manner.

The management of the environmental impacts of our operations and processes involves the following focus areas:

Promoting responsible water stewardship by minimising water use and water pollution
Minimising our negative impacts on air quality
Responding to climate change risks and opportunities and promoting responsible energy management
Managing our waste streams
Promoting responsible land management and biodiversity practices.

All our operations are ISO 14001 certified. In line with our environmental management systems expectations, all operations are required to identify and report on environmental incidents. Systems are in place to investigate and determine the direct and root causes of high-severity incidents, and to address and close out these incidents. The implementation of an amended five-tier incident classification matrix for the Group will be rolled out in 2015.

To ensure continued assurance of legal compliance to all environmental authorisation requirements and conditions, we are implementing land management solutions for South African operations.

In addition to managing our direct environmental impacts, all operations are expected to develop or fund a flagship local community environmental project to visibly demonstrate that we have moved beyond just compliance on environmental issues.