How we report

Although our Report to Society is an annual publication, we consider and define the report content during the year under review. Because of the scale of the company and the range of operations, circumstances and issues that we face, we cannot report on every issue. Using the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidance for assessing the materiality of the issues we face we have taken a conscious decision to report on those issues that:

• Are important and meaningful to us as a company both from an operational and risk point of view;
• Are important and meaningful to our stakeholders and business partners as a consequence of their having identified them as such;
• Take into account basic expectations expressed in international standards and agreements with which we are expected to comply;
• Are topical in the broader public debate (such as climate change and biodiversity);
• Reflect our support for and are in accordance with the voluntary guidelines and principles to which we subscribe; and
• Ensure that we are transparent in our reporting, and provide a complete picture within the sustainability context of our business.

Stakeholder inclusiveness

We have canvassed our stakeholders and business partners in respect of our reporting format. Through this process it became clear that:

• Readers wanted a report that was user-friendly and easily accessible, and was not too long.
• Readers in specific regions wanted to access information peculiar to specific countries and operations that were relevant to them, and within their preferred language.
• Readers often had a clear area of interest and wanted to be able to access information on specific issues only.

To address these needs we have developed a suite of reports (See Using this report).

Sustainability context

We understand as a group that we are guests in the countries and communities in which our operations are located and in which we undertake exploration. We recognise that the value-creation opportunity that our company faces, is one that should benefit not only our shareholders and employees, but also our stakeholders and business partners. In short, it is our responsibility to act with integrity and care in all that we do, so that communities may be better off for our having been there and that any negative impacts of the mining and development process have been mitigated by socio-economic advancement in the best interests of and with the consent of, the relevant communities.

In determining the boundaries for our report, we have reported on those operations where we hold a majority stake or which we manage.

Reporting against our values

AngloGold Ashanti is a values-driven organisation and our values and business principles underpin everything that we do. This applies equally to our approach to sustainable development. Thus, our business principles guide our relations with all those who have an interest in our business. We report and measure our performance against our values and business principles and report our progress and the challenges we face in this report.

Information gathering and deciding what to report

We take both a bottom up and top down approach.

In terms of the former approach, we ask each of our operations to complete questionnaires on each of the areas that we review, and to provide suggestions for case studies. The questionnaires are based on the GRI indicators. Site visits were undertaken to a number of the operations by the report writers during the year.

In terms of the latter approach, a Report to Society Committee compiles the primary areas of risk and interest, and suggests broad themes for case studies. This committee is made up of the discipline heads for Environment, Safety, Health, Community, Compliance and Public Affairs, with representatives also from Finance, Risk Management and Human Resources. The committee takes due cognisance of issues that arise at an operational level and in the public domain, and through its association with voluntary bodies, in addition to the bi-annual risk identification and management processes that take place within the group.

Reports submitted to Exco (such as incident reporting, accident reporting), and to the board’s Safety, Health and Sustainable Development sub-committee, are also reviewed and considered for reporting.

The report is finally reviewed and approved by the heads of disciplines, the company’s Exco, the heads of operations, the company’s Disclosure Committee and an appointed representative of the Safety, Health and Sustainable Development Committee of the Board. The Economic Performance section is also reviewed by the Group’s Audit Committee.

In compiling this report it is our intention to provide a clear picture of our vision, values and business principles, and how we have performed when measured against these. We aim to provide a balanced overview of the company and the sustainability issues and challenges that we face, from exploration to mine and closure, in all of the regions in which we operate.

As in prior years we have sought external assurance to ensure accuracy, balance and completeness of the report. We have also, during 2007, valued the further assistance provided by the group’s internal audit discipline. We note the exception by PwC (see Report of the independent assurers) this year and will use this input to improve our systems in the future.