Case studies: Group

Implementing ISO14001 at Anglogold Ashanti

In March 2005, AngloGold Ashanti’s Executive Committee took the decision to pursue ISO14001 certification for all its operating mines in support of a strategic recommendation made by the group environmental management team. A target was set by the committee that all operations should achieve certification by the end of 2006.

Says Andrew Mackenzie, Manager: Corporate Environmental Affairs at AngloGold Ashanti, “Our decision was based on an ever-increasing need to implement a single and comparable system across operations not only for management purposes, but also for ensuring compliance with environmental laws and regulations. We also believed that this across-the-board implementation would assist us in identifying, prioritising and managing company-related environmental issues, as well as respond to the ever-increasing requirements of environmental reporting. Additionally, the internal and external verification processes that are required will provide greater comfort in our risk management and corporate governance processes. It also allows us to transfer staff, both operational and environmental professionals, between sites knowing that their familiarity with the system will enable them to deal with the relevant environmental issue from the word go.”

During 2004 gap analyses were undertaken at every operation to determine the degree to which the former environmental management systems (EMSs) were aligned with ISO14001. By this stage, six operations – Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina, AngloGold Ashanti Minera??o and Serra Grande in Brazil, Bibiani and Iduapriem in Ghana and Geita in Tanzania – were already ISO14001 certified and hence there was some experience and reassurance that this was indeed the right path to follow. (Note that the Bibiani mine was sold at the end of 2006).

By year end 2006, all but one mining operation (Navachab in Namibia) had been audited and achieved or been recommended for certification.

Country	Operation	Date achieved	Certified by	Valid until
Argentina	Cerro Vangaurdia	July 2002	National Quality Assurance (USA)	June 2008
Australia	Sunrise Dam	December 2006	Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance	December 2009
Brazil	AngloGold Ashanti Mineraçao	March 2004 (Re-issued in May 2006)	National Quality Assurance (USA)	May 2007
	Córrego do Sitio	December 2006	National Quality Assurance (USA)	December 2009
	Serra Grande	March 2004 *(Reissued in May 2006)	National Quality Assurance (USA)	March 2007
Ghana	Iduapriem	January 2004 *(Reissued in November 2006)	DLIQ Certification Services	November 2009
	Obuasi	December 2006	DLIQ Certification Services	December 2009
Mali	Sadiola	November 2006 (certification recommended)	DLIQ Certification Services	November 2009
	Morila	November 2006 (certification recommended)	DLIQ Certification Services	November 2009
South	Moab Khotsong	December 2006	DQS (Germany)	December 2009
Africa	Great Noligwa Tau Lekoa Mine Kopanang Mine Sustainable Development operations Sustainable Development properties Sustainable Development Operations East Rand Africa Underground region metallurgy Savuka Mine Mponeng Mine TauTona Mine Mine services – Vaal River Mine services – West Wits Properties – high density	(certification recommended)
Tanzania	Geita	July 2001	DLIQ Certification Services	January 2007
USA	CC&V	December 2006	Orion Register	December 2009
	AngloGold Ashanti North America In  (Denver Corporate Office)	December 2006	Orion Register	December 2009
Note: Yatela mine, which was previously scheduled for closure, but whose life has been extended, will seek certification by 31 December 2007. Navachab mine in Namibia is scheduled for its second stage audit in March 2007 Additional business entities within AngloGold Ashanti’s South Africa operations that will be pursuing ISO14001 certification during 2007 are: AngloGold Ashanti Health, Commercial Services and AngloGold Training and Development Services.

 “This is an excellent achievement,” says Andrew Mackenzie. “When we started this process we knew that we had set a ‘stretch’ target, and were pleasantly surprised when almost all operations and business entities actually achieved the desired result. All credit must be given at an operational level where there has been massive support for the process, despite some initial resistance.”

When questioned about this resistance, Mackenzie explained that this was not significant and related mainly to concerns about ever-increasing corporate governance requirements and perceived bureaucracy; the fact that achieving certification appeared to be a very daunting task, and that many people did not realise how closely aligned their previous environmental management systems were with IS014001 and concerns relating to resources (time, money and staff).

“While the costs relating to the actual auditing processes were indeed new, many of the other costs have simply been absorbed into the operating costs where indeed they were already being incurred; this was just a way of ensuring that they contributed to the refinement of reasonably good existing management systems. Admittedly though, during the course of the year, there has been an enormous amount of time spent on training and on developing awareness of the systems across the operations (and not just within the environmental discipline). In some cases additional resources, and staff, had to be assigned to enhance the capacity of environmental departments that may have been under-resourced.

The fact that such a system requires the involvement and commitment of just about everyone at an operational level has certainly helped to improve the level of environmental awareness within the company. The challenge, says Mackenzie, is the fact that certification is just the start of the process and not the end. There is clear recognition that certification does not guarantee good environmental performance, but it does provide a system for assessing the environmental risks and establishing a baseline from which an operation can begin, in its particular context, to demonstrate ongoing, or continual improvement. In fact, maintaining certification is perhaps even more onerous than obtaining it.