Anglo American’s approach to shaping a sustainable business

A sustainable business has an enduring purpose in society and considers the many different forms of value that it can deliver for its stakeholders, in all its decision-making.

Our purpose of re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives guides our approach to producing and sourcing the metals and minerals needed for a more sustainable future, while striving to meet the expectations of consumers around the world for products made from materials that are  sourced responsibly, and in accordance with the highest ethical and sustainability standards.

Our Sustainable Mining Plan was introduced in 2018 as part of FutureSmart Mining™, Anglo American’s innovation-led pathway to sustainable mining and a blueprint for the future of our business. Designed to foster innovation and deliver step change results across the entire mining value chain – from mineral discovery right through to marketing – the plan outlines a set of stretch goals. At the centre of this are our three Global Sustainability Pillars, aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals:

• Healthy Environment: Maintaining a healthy environment by creating waterless, carbon-neutral mines and delivering net-positive biodiversity outcomes.
• Thriving Communities: Building thriving communities with better health, education and levels of employment.
• Trusted Corporate Leader: Developing trust as a corporate leader by providing ethical value chains and improved accountability to the communities we work with.

Under each pillar, we have a series of ambitious global stretch goals that depend on local, purposeful and long-term actions designed to drive positive outcomes through innovative thinking, enabling technologies, and collaborative partnerships. These are helping us to shape an industry that is safer, more sustainable and efficient, and better harmonised with the needs of our host communities and society as a whole.

An integral aspect of our third pillar is our ambition to be part of a value chain that supports and reinforces positive human rights and sustainability outcomes.

“How we work, the social part of it, is very important. Being consistent, being authentic, being true to what we say we are going to do and then doing it. Trust is a very important part of this equation.”  Duncan Wanblad. Chief Executive, Anglo American.

Our Global Footprint

With a portfolio of world-class competitive operations and broad range of future development options, Anglo American is a leading global mining company providing many of the future-enabling metals and minerals for a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world and that meet the fast growing every day demands of billions of consumers.

Shaping a sustainable business: The value of independent assessment

Anglo American has a clear, well-established record of responsible sourcing and ethical value chains, with industry-leading internal standards that guide our approach to sustainability.

When buying Anglo American products, our customers know that our processes and practices are underpinned and guided by our values, and our focus on sustainability – from our safety, health and environmental management system, to our standard for responsible sourcing and our commitment to understand, and respond to, the needs and realities of the communities in which we operate. This helps us prioritise ethical decision-making across our entire supply chain, complementing our efforts to promote the principles of decent work and ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights for every person impacted through our activities.

We also recognise the value of independent assurance to verify these aspects of our performance, against which we can test our internal criteria for alignment with best practice. This ensures we live up to the evolving expectations of our customers, investors, local communities, employees and other stakeholders, while optimising the value from our mineral resources by anticipating and addressing their needs from a sustainability standpoint.

For example, our platinum group metal operations in South Africa already meet the requirements of the London Platinum & Palladium Market (LPPM) Responsible Sourcing Guidance, a framework created to formalise and consolidate existing high standards of due diligence amongst all PGM refiners.

As another example, in March this year, our managed copper operations in Chile – the Los Bronces and El Soldado mining operations, and the Chagres smelter – were awarded the Copper Mark, the assurance standard for responsible copper, developed to demonstrate the copper industry’s commitment to both the green energy transition and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) Standard – a core element of the Ethical Value Chain stretch goal in our Sustainable Mining Plan – is another such mechanism. A global system to credibly measure environmental and social responsibility for mined materials, it offers independent third-party verification and certification for all mined materials, covering the full range of issues related to the environmental and social impact of industrial-scale mines.

The IRMA framework helps us to certify our efforts in a way that is objectively measured and understood. Supporting our own industry-leading standards by associating the appropriate trust marks with our products provides independent assurance to our customers that the materials they purchase from Anglo American are mined and supplied in a responsible way – in full alignment with our purpose and values.

This helps them demonstrate the necessary credentials across their own value chains. For example, certain sectors, like automotive, are increasingly recognising the benefits of IRMA and appreciate the certification as a way of validating the commitment of product suppliers, such as Anglo American, to responsible sourcing practices.

Understanding IRMA

The IRMA Standard was developed over 10 years following public consultation with more than 100 individuals and organisations, including government agencies, financial entities, academic institutions, NGOs and others. It defines good practices and sets aspirational goals for how mines should operate and perform.

Results range from IRMA Transparency to IRMA 50, IRMA 75 and IRMA 100 certified achievement levels, which reflect gradual performance improvements. Each level requires a third-party audit and public disclosure of the results and, with the exception of IRMA transparency, conformity to 40 critical requirements across four principal areas – Business Integrity, Planning and Managing for Positive Legacies, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Responsibility.

Based on a wide range of existing, industry recognized standards, IRMA establishes a more efficient audit process for global value chains, with input from multiple stakeholders, increasing transparency and ensuring sustainability practices are continuously improved through a positive-feedback loop that leads to better ways to do business. This creates greater value for all stakeholders.

Adopting processes like the IRMA and LPPM frameworks allows us to monitor and drive continuous improvement across all aspects of responsible mining, with several advantages to certification. For example, with growing cross-industry commitment in this space, IRMA counts several key customers of our PGM value chain as members.

The rigorous requirements of the IRMA Standard have been confirmed by the German Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe) which, together with the University of Ulm, published a study in 2017 comparing 19 selected initiatives. The results of this analysis determined that the IRMA certification process demands the highest requirements of the mining industry.

Encouragingly, the European Parliament has also expressed support for IRMA in its recently published report on Critical Raw Materials. In this report, Parliamentarians called on the Commission to use IRMA as a “starting point” when developing a standard for responsible mining.

“As the link between the customers who buy and appreciate our high-quality products, and our mines, we know that, to shape a truly sustainable business, we must stay ahead of evolving trends. By doing this, we ensure the reliable supply of essential resources that fulfil customer requirements; that are responsibly produced, sourced and delivered; and that are complemented by our high-quality service support.” Peter Whitcutt. CEO Marketing, Anglo American

Shaping the conversation on mine certification

Transforming the very nature of mining for a safer, smarter, more sustainable future is at the heart of Anglo American’s efforts to deliver on our purpose, and is reflected in our internal standards and behaviours.

Our alignment with IRMA supports and allows us to demonstrate our credentials through a framework that is accepted and understood across the industry. As a founding board member, we are proud to have supported the development of the IRMA Standard and, working alongside other stakeholder groups, we will continue to champion it as a force for sustainability and trust in the mining sector. We believe IRMA certification directly supports the delivery of our Sustainable Mining Plan as well as the implementation of responsible business practices across the broader industry.

We have committed to assuring all our operations against a recognised responsible mining standard by 2025. As part of this effort, we are working to certify our PGM, Iron Ore, Base Metals and Crop Nutrients sites against the IRMA framework. To date, seven Anglo American-managed operations have either completed IRMA assessments or are in the process of being assured – our Unki (Zimbabwe), Amandelbult and Mototolo (South Africa) PGM mines; our Sishen, Kolomela (South Africa) and Minas Rio (Brazil) iron ore operations, and our Barro Alto (Brazil) nickel mine.

A four-step Process

We follow a standard course of action for each IRMA assessment, with assurance at the mine site undertaken by independent, third-party auditors.

The process consists of four main steps, through which each site must progress. They include:

• Business unit and site preparation.
• Self-assessment at a site level.
• Third-party assessment by an independent certification body, comprising a desk-based and site-based assessment.
• Surveillance and re-certification, conducted after 18 months, with re-certification taking place every three years.

As more of our operations go through audited assessments, we build a better understanding of areas where we can continue to improve and take our sustainability performance to the next level.

Unki achieves IRMA level 75

Anglo American’s Unki platinum mine was the first in the world to publicly commit to being independently audited against the IRMA Standard. In February 2021, Unki was assessed against IRMA’s comprehensive mining standard, achieving the IRMA level 75 of performance. It is the first mine in Africa and the first PGM-producing operation globally to complete the audit, verified by SCS Global Services.

This rating shows that Unki meets a core set of critical requirements, together with at least 75% of the requirements in each of the four sections of the Standard for Responsible Mining.

Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director of IRMA, said: “Anglo American’s bold move to distinguish themselves in the world’s most comprehensive and rigorous responsible mining programme sets the stage for greater environmental and social responsibility across the global mining industry. By achieving IRMA level 75 at their first mine, Anglo American is showcasing their commitment to supporting transparency, continuous improvement and best practices.”

Making a difference: comprehensive industry leadership

We have a comprehensive set of policies, standards and principles that ensure we uphold the commitments we make to our stakeholders.

• SHE Way – upholds our principles for excellence in Safety, Health and Environmental management.
• Social Way – sets out our approach to social performance.
• Human Rights Policy – outlines our commitment to respect human rights.
• Responsible Sourcing Standard – defines sustainability requirements and decent work principles required by our suppliers.
• Climate Change Policy – informs our approach to the challenge of climate change.
• Water Policy – guides our efforts to lead sustainable water management.
• Tailings Management Standard – governs the safe management of our tailings storage facilities.
• Business Integrity Policy – guides us to behave to the highest standards of integrity.