The issues we face

Reducing accidents at work and eliminating all fatal accidents. See the case studies on A reinforced emphasis on safety – AngloGold Ashanti engages on a number of fronts and The seven pillars – a revised safety strategy for the South African operations on our safety strategy. Since falls of ground account for 63% of our fatal accidents, this is an important area of work. See the case studies on the gold mining industry project into seismicity and rockbursts, a review of our falls of ground management strategy and our efforts to separate people and risk.

Maintaining and implementing comprehensive health management programmes at all operations. Key areas of concern are the potential for noise-induced hearing loss, occupational lung disease and TB in South Africa (where the disease is classified as an occupational illness). See the case study on TB control at AngloGold Ashanti – applying best practice.

Respect for human rights. In line with our business principles and as a signatory to the Voluntary Principles and Human Rights a range of policies and practices is being implemented within the group, along with the safeguards to ensure that these are adhered to. See the Community section.

Reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS and malaria. In regions where there are significant regional health threats to the company and the community as a whole, we address these in an integrated and proactive manner. Examples are our HIV/AIDS programmes particularly in southern Africa, where the pandemic is at its peak, and malaria in West Africa. See the Regional Health section.

Delivering sustainable benefits to our communities. We understand that a mining project has a defined window of opportunity to deliver to our host communities benefits that are socially and economically beneficial and sustainable and we endeavour to do this, and to minimise any negative impacts in the process. See the Community section.

Transparency in relations with government. We recognise that our social compact should be with the people of the regions in which we operate and not just with the government, and are committed to transparency in our reporting on these relations. Challenges that we have to face include relations with security forces where this is necessary to protect out people and assets, and reporting in those countries in which regulation and practice mitigate against such reporting. We report on payments to government in the Economic performance section.

Diversity in operations and people. As we have diversified our asset base, so we are endeavouring to ensure that our employees and our leadership reflect the demographics of countries and regions in which we operate. Issues that we are addressing here are women in mining, the promotion of historically disadvantaged South Africans, localisation programmes in Tanzania, Mali, Guinea and Ghana, and dealing with indigenous peoples’ rights, particularly in Australia. See the Employment section and the case study on Women in mining – on track to meet targets in South Africa.

Lifelong training. We recognise that just as employees have an obligation to perform in terms of their employment contracts, so we as a group have an obligation to assist them in developing to their full potential. Skills development as well as lifelong training and development is important, not only while employees are with the company, but also after their terms of employment.

Dealing with artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). In some if the countries in which we operate our operations bring us into conflict with artisanal and small-scale miners. As a group we recognise the rights of these miners and, in line with the applicable legislation, we seek to develop ways in which we can cohabit the areas in which we operate with mutual respect for each other’s rights. See the discussion in the section on Community.

Reducing our carbon footprint. In line with our commitment to minimising our environmental impact and to effectively manage the efficient use of our resources, we have undertaken to reduce our energy consumption by 15% in the short to medium-term and to reduce our carbon emissions by 30% in the longer term. See the case studies on AngloGold Ashanti and climate change and Establishing the company’s carbon footprint in South America.