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| Review of 2003 |
| Governance
and management |
AngloGold?s environmental issues are
overseen by a Board committee on Safety, Health and Sustainable
Development. This committee approves relevant policy and is
responsible for good governance.
The Board is chaired by non-executive director Bill Nairn. Other
members of the committee are Deputy Chairman Dr James Motlatsi and
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bobby Godsell. The committee met on
four occasions during 2003. A small corporate office environmental
team engages with the international environmental community,
including the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), to
establish and advise on policy and best practice, and coordinate
efforts across the group. Actual responsibility for environmental
performance rests with line management across the group, with the
heads of each region, reporting to the COO, being held accountable
for environmental performance.
AngloGold?s operations are subject to the environmental laws, rules
and regulations of the various countries and jurisdictions within
which they operate. At an operational level, responsibility for
environmental performance rests with each of the general managers at
the various sites, who are usually also accountable in terms of
these same laws.
AngloGold actively participates in both national and global debates
on sustainable development and is one of the founder members of the
ICMM. AngloGold subscribes to the ICMM principles of sustainability.
(See case study). |
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| Environmental incident reporting
systems |
| An environmental incident reporting
system was agreed by the Safety, Health and Sustainable Development
Committee of the Board in October 2003. The Board requires that
major environmental incidents are reported to it on a quarterly
basis and has defined an environmental incident as an uncontrolled
event (or failure to act on the part of the company) that results in
a violation of an environmental law, regulation or established
company environmental policy. A major incident is one which is: |
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Likely to attract public attention;
or |
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Results in a cost to the company exceeding
$500,000 (total costs including fines, compensation, clean-up,
loss of production, anticipated litigation costs, etc). |
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| Environmental management system |
| Environmental management systems
(EMSs) are in place or being developed at all operations. |
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An EMS is in place at each operation in the
East and West Africa region. ISO
14001 certification has been achieved at Geita mine in Tanzania. |
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EMSs have been integrated into the NOSA
Health and Safety system which has been implemented in
South America. The Cerro Vanguardia mine in Argentina
has been certified ISO 14001-compliant. The aim is to have all
of the South American operations ISO 14001-certified by the end
of 2004. |
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All the South African
operations operate within Environmental Management Programme
Reports (EMPRs) that have been approved by the Department of
Minerals and Energy (DME), in consultation with other
departments such as the Department of Water Affairs (DWAF). The
EMPRs identify individual impacts, mitigation measures and
rehabilitation requirements. These have been used as the basis
of a proprietary EMS, which is in the process of being developed
and rolled out to each of the business units. This EMS, which is
based on ISO 14001 principles, will be an electronic-based
system. |
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EMSs have been implemented at all of
AngloGold Australia?s operations, and as a
signatory of the Australian Code for Environmental Management
(run under the auspices of the Minerals Council of Australia),
the Australian region is required to produce a public
environmental report on an annual basis. (Details can be found
in the Australian Safety, Health, Environment and Community
Report). |
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AngloGold?s North American
mines operate under a highly regulated environment. An
environmental management system is being developed and refined
to ensure full legal compliance. |
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| The EMS at all operations encompass (or will soon
encompass) the following components: |
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A legal register |
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An identification of the environmental
impacts and mitigation measures for the operation |
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A clearly defined structure of
responsibilities |
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Procedures for monitoring and measuring all
potential impacts |
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Procedure for document control |
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Procedures and guidelines for training,
awareness and competence |
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Emergency preparedness plans |
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Environmental objectives and targets |
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A regular auditing and review process |
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Non-conformity, corrective and
preventative action procedures, and |
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A regular systems review cycle |
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| Each of the regions has an audit process in
place. In most instances auditing is done on an annual basis, but in
other cases it can be more or less frequent. Both internal and
external audits are used, depending on specific requirements. |
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| Breakdown
of AngloGold’s estimated future rehabilitation obligations |
| as
at 31 December 2002 (to be updated) |
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2003 |
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contribution |
Balance |
Total |
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to |
in |
estimated |
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Trust Fund |
Trust Fund |
liability |
Note |
| South African operations |
11.1(2) |
52.7 |
97.6 |
(1) |
| East and West African
operations |
? |
? |
25.4 |
(3) |
| North American
operations |
? |
? |
55.0 |
(4) |
| South American
operations |
? |
? |
31.4 |
(3) |
| Australian operations |
? |
? |
31.7 |
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Total |
11.1 |
52.7 |
241.1 |
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| All figures are
in US$ millions. |
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| (1) |
All calculations are based
upon the 2003 business plan. In South African law
AngloGold is required to estimate its environmental
closure and final rehabilitation costs and to use
this estimate to make periodic cash contributions to
an environmental trust fund, created in accordance
with rehabilitation obligations of those operations. |
| (2) |
Includes growth in the
Trust Fund of $4.2 million. |
| (3) |
For East
and West Africa, North America, South America and
Australia, the obligations are based upon the
company?s net interest in millions of US dollars.
The obligations will be funded from existing cash
resources and future cash flows. |
| (4) |
For East and West Africa,
North America, South America and Australia, the
obligations are based upon the company?s net
interest in millions of US dollars. The obligations
will be funded from existing cash resources and
future cash flows. |
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| Mine closure planning and financial provisions
for closure |
| In all of the jurisdictions within which
AngloGold?s operations conduct their business, the group is required
to provide financial assurance, in a form prescribed by law, to
cover the cost of some or all of the anticipated closure and
rehabilitation costs for the operation. These estimates are derived
from a mine closure plan which sets out the way in which the
business would cease operations and address the issues associated
with closure. These plans are revised on a regular basis throughout
the life of the operation as situations change. (See
case study on Mina Velha). So while the ultimate
cost to be incurred in future contains a degree of uncertainty,
AngloGold estimates the total cost for mine closure and
rehabilitation, in current monetary terms, to be $241.1 million. |
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| Cyanide management |
| The use of cyanide for the recovery of gold is
critical to the current viability of the gold mining industry, but
its use remains one of the most significant concerns for the
international environmental community and hence the industry itself.
AngloGold participated in the development of the International Code
for Cyanide Management which was published in 2002. (This can be
found at
www.cyanidecode.org.) The company is currently reviewing all of
its operations to determine any areas that will need to be addressed
in order to fully comply with the code. |
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| Resource use and waste generation –
energy, water and other materials |
There is an ever-increasing awareness of the need
to reduce, or at least improve, the efficient use of scarce
environmental resources such as energy and water.
The group recognises that apart from the environmental advantages of
reducing the use of such raw materials, this could also potentially
bring about significant cost savings to the company. The overarching
philosophy is to optimise the use of resources, an objective that is
best managed at site level, where staff understand the requirements
of the operation and can identify needs and wastage.
Environmental targets are set by the individual operating mines or
business units as applicable to their own EMS and committed to in
line with the corporate environmental policy. These targets reflect
the priorities and risks unique to each operating unit. Information
on resource use and waste generation is collected and recorded at
site level, where it is used to influence the site environmental
management programme. Owing to variations in site conditions, as
well as mining and treatment processes, resource-use efficiencies
differ greatly between operations. The optimisation of resource use
is also controlled by the management accounting systems of the
various sites, where the cost of resources such as fuel and water
consumption affect the total cost of mining, reflected as a $/oz
cost.
Because the group believes that the mechanics of this are best dealt
with at site level, AngloGold does not maintain a centralised
database of this information at corporate office but obtains details
from site when required. The need for a centralised database of such
information is being reconsidered given the demand for information
by various socially responsible investment analysts and reporting
frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative. Progress on this
will be reported on next year. |
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| Surface disturbance, impact on biodiversity
and land rehabilitation |
One of the most visible impacts of mining
operations is the disturbance of land surface through the creation
of surface mines, and the establishment of rock and tailings
disposal facilities, along with other mining infrastructure. To
minimise the impact of operations on the environment, environmental
impact assessment (EIA) studies are carried out for all new
projects, and measures to minimise any disruption are implemented as
part of the EMS.
At existing operations, controls are built into the EMS and its
related policies and procedures. Where possible, revegetation of
disturbed areas is carried out during the operational life of the
mine, otherwise it forms part of the mine closure process.
AngloGold prides itself on its ability to rehabilitate old mining
areas. The term rehabilitation, as used in this document, refers to
the process of reclaiming or restoring mined land to allow an
appropriate predetermined post-mining use. Rehabilitation standards
are determined, amongst others, by the South African Department of
Minerals and Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US
Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, the Australian
Department of Minerals, and addresses among others, ground and
surface water, topsoil, final slope gradient, waste handling and
revegetation issues. In North and South America, novel techniques
have been used to revegetate old mining pits and haul roads (See
case study on Mina Velha and North America case study). In South Africa, the company participates in ongoing
research to improve the long-term sustainability of its revegetation
practices. (See case study). |
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| Biodiversity issues |
The loss of biodiversity and ongoing threats to
habitat are issues of international concern. In the mining context,
activities of greatest impact are the transformation of land,
potential pollution from mineral processing activities and secondary
impacts from mining development. All mining and potential mining
sites are evaluated ? as part of the EIA process ? in respect of
biodiversity issues and, in particular, whether any unique flora or
fauna species will be affected.
AngloGold, through its participation in the ICMM?s Biodiversity
Taskforce, is working with the International Union for Conservation
of Nature and Natural resources (IUCN) to find ways in which the
industry can improve its environmental performance. AngloGold
believes that mining does not only have negative effects, but can
offer real opportunities to enhance biodiversity conservation.
Mineral exploration projects are often situated in remote locations,
and when conducted in partnership with biologists, offer a unique
opportunity, together with environmental baseline studies, for
improving knowledge on biodiversity. Revegetation activities also
provide the opportunity for re-introducing plant species into
environments where they may have been threatened. No doubt the
partnership between the ICMM and IUCN will uncover many other ways
in which the company can contribute to biodiversity conservation. |
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