• Printer friendly
• This page as PDF (66KB)

In our Corporate Responsibility Report for the 2008 financial year we have tried to address those broader economic, social and environmental impacts that our business has on our employees, our communities and a wide range of stakeholders.

Having the maxim “One team, one vision, with pride”, we realise that as company we need to live up to the vision and values we have set ourselves and this needs to be visible. Only then can we expect our employees to do the same. And we realise too, that our actions will indeed speak louder than words, and that the acceptance and respect of the communities in which we reside needs to be earned.

GRI reporting

As was the case in 2007, this report has been compiled in line with the GRI G3 guidelines and this year, for the first time, we have declared a B+ level of reporting, which has been confirmed by our external auditors. This indicates both an increase in the extent of our reporting, which was one of our stated objectives, and the fact that certain key parameters in this report have again been independently assured.

We are also very pleased to report that we, as a company, have sought to become a signatory to the UN Global Compact, whose principles we support and report against further in this report.

Challenges and successes

We had failures and successes during FY2008. These are discussed below.

• Twelve people died at our operations during the year. While our safety indicators have improved, the fact that colleagues lost their lives is something that all the members of our team find unacceptable. We extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who have died. Our zero harm initiative is founded on the fundamental belief that we can and will reach a time when our operations are incident free. See the discussion on safety.
• The energy crisis earlier this year presented a significant operational challenge. While we have long been involved in energy efficiency programmes, the sudden and unexpected inability of the energy utility to meet contractual obligations had a substantial effect on our business and managing this issue must be factored into our future plans. Our efforts to conserve energy have intensified and we will report on this further in the year ahead.
• Allied to this energy conservation is the development of our understanding of climate change and the potential impact of global warming. This matter has been considered at a senior level within the group and we have developed a sound baseline from which to both understand and measure our performance in reducing carbon emissions. Again this year we participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s global survey.
• Another issue that has been of particular concern during the year has been the skills shortage in our country as a whole and in the mining industry in particular. This has had a tremendous impact on skills retention within the company and, consequently, on costs. Labour turnover also has had an effect on safety and health, as well as productivity and morale. The skills shortage has not only affected the private sector – its impact on the public sector has been to delay various regulatory processes and permitting, all to the detriment of the industry.
• An important milestone was reached during the year when we were granted our mineral rights conversion for Marula, as well as the mining right for the Leeuwkop project. Post year-end, in August 2008, approval was also granted by the DME of Impala’s mining right. This indicated a clear acceptance of our BEE credentials, our Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) and the Social and Labour Plans (SLPs) by the South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME).
• This was also the first year of operation of the Impala Bafokeng Trust (IBT), which was jointly established by Implats and the Royal Bafokeng Nation as part of our BEE transaction in 2006. The IBT has already established a sound base and will bring great benefits to the Bojanala region. During the year, the Impala Community Development Trust (ICDT) contributed R42 million towards socio-economic development initiatives (including the R6 million contribution via the IBT).
• The socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe continues to be of grave concern, not only in the way that it hampers our business and limits the benefits that Zimbabwe as a nation reaps from the current buoyancy in the PGMs market, but also in the way in which this has affected our employees and their communities. We have a clear responsibility to our Zimbabwean employees, not only to provide jobs, but to provide support in terms of food, security, housing and education. We are doing our best to meet these commitments.

Corporate responsibility

In a review such as this one, it is often the negative that we focus on rather than the positive.

I could say much about the value added by the group, the provision of jobs to some 55 000 people, the corporate social investment and local economic development initiatives that reached more than 42 000 beneficiaries and the ingenuity and innovation that has been shown by employees in ensuring that we remain the pre-eminent PGM-producing company. What I will say though is this: we at Implats take our responsibility to corporate citizenship very seriously and the matters considered in this report have the attention of those at the highest levels of governance in the company. In many of the areas covered we have made great strides in compiling group information for the first time as we continue to develop and harmonise our systems. In this regard, we have appointed, for the first time, a group safety, health and environment executive who will co-ordinate matters in a more holistic way.

Feedback welcome

I trust that the readers of this report will find the information that they are looking for as we have endeavoured to cover those matters that are most material to us. We welcome feedback on our report and suggestions for ways in which we can improve it in the future. For feedback, see the contact details.

David Brown
Chief Executive Officer
28 August 2008

^ Jump to the top