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In 2006, Anglo American
and its managed subsidiaries
contributed $50.3 million in
social investment (including
cash donations, gifts in kind
and staff time devoted to
community benefit projects).
This declined from 2005
when the Group contributed
$56.7 million.
The most significant factor for
the apparent decline is that
the Group has changed. In
April 2006, AngloGold Ashanti
ceased to be a subsidiary and
since that date its contributions
are no longer included in the
Group’s social investment
figures. In addition, sustained
high commodity prices meant
profits were at record levels,
so social investment as a
percentage of profit before tax
fell to 0.55% in 2006 from
1% in 2005 (1.1% in 2004
and 1.5% in 2003).
To mirror the widely admired
work of the Anglo American
Chairman’s Fund in South
Africa, Anglo American plc
established a Foundation in
2006 to channel charitable
giving to projects in the United
Kingdom and other parts of
the world where the Group
operates. Among the causes
supported by the Foundation
in its inaugural year were
an educational scholarships
programme initiated by Mondi,
CARE, Engineers without
Borders, Children of the Andes,
the HIV and AIDS charity
Starfish and UK homelessness
charities Centrepoint and the
Connection at St Martin-in-the-
fields in London.
For the eighth successive year,
students from Thomas Telford
school in the West Midlands,
UK, have kept their school at
the top of the government’s
league tables across both state
and independent sectors for
general certificate of secondary
education results.
Their record is particularly
impressive because the school
accepts students of all abilities
in an economically deprived
area. This extraordinary success
has been built with Tarmac’s
help. It has provided facilities
and also guided the school
in applying a business-like
approach to education.
The school was originally
founded as a City Technology
College established by the
government. Accountable
directly to the Department for
Education, these specialist
schools have a particular
emphasis on science,
mathematics and technology,
as well as close links with
business and industry.
Four senior Tarmac employees
sit on the school board. They
encourage the school to think
and work differently. The school
only teaches two subjects a day
to allow teachers to develop
ideas in class. There is no
separate staff common room (to
encourage an inclusive attitude)
and high standards of dress
and behaviour are required.
Tarmac provides workplace
opportunities for students
to learn about business and
Tarmac staff provide career
advice at the school.
Since 2005, employees at the
Chagres Smelter in Chile have
been working with the local
community, one of the poorest
in the region, to improve the
leadership capability. Groups
of neighbours were formed to
assist the leaders of the various
community organisations in
turning ideas into concrete
projects.
The ideas were identified in a
socio-economic assessment
exercise carried out in 2004 as
well as in more recent surveys.
Some projects, such as the
Catemu Goat scheme and
Apicultural Agricultural Farm
were implemented, but trust
remained low.
The community development
teams are in charge of
designing and implementing
projects which assist the
community – on the condition
that they participate by donating
voluntary time, material
or financial resources. The
results have been good. Trust
is improving and knowledge
about the operation’s role in
community well-being has
improved.
Community development teams
recently had an opportunity
to learn about the scope of
the plan and attend a conflict
resolution workshop, which
they described as enriching for
both their community work and
their personal lives.
In describing his vision of
a transformed Woorabinda
community – one in which
children would study, find jobs
and return home in shiny new
vehicles of their own – Steve
Kemp, the co-ordinator of the
Community, Development,
Employment Program (CDEP)
in Woorabinda set in motion
innovative community
interaction. Woorabinda is a
community faced with issues
such as low employment,
domestic violence, alcoholism
and drugs, all of which have a
negative effect on the children.
At the Dawson Leadership
Summit, Kemp told the
participants about the
positive spin-offs brought to
the community by a Shared
Responsibility Agreement
(SRA). The SRA was signed
by Anglo Coal with the
Woorabinda Council and
the Federal Government of
Australia.
Among the many examples
he mentioned were the
140 hand-painted T-shirts
that Anglo Coal ordered in
May 2006 to celebrate the
relationship that was building
between the company and the
community. The project gave
the local artists an opportunity
to demonstrate their skills,
as well as gain confidence
in their ability to meet tight
deadlines and produce high
quality products. It provided an
opportunity for 140 leaders in
Anglo Coal Australia to learn
some of the cultural ways of
aboriginal life and participate
providing practical help.
Kemp’s vision sparked ideas
and a few weeks later Greg
Lang, Lindsay Lang, Greg
Woolard, Marc Johnson, Adrian
Pennett and Wayne Dufty,
from our Dawson mine, were
planning a trip on their Harley
Davidsons to Woorabinda
state school in a bid to inspire
students. The growl of the
Harley Davidson motorcycles
and the message of hard work
and making dreams come true
were a big hit with the whole
town. The bikers returned to
the Woorabinda high school
in mid-February with more of
their Dawson colleagues to
continue their engagement
with the community. |
Employees from Anglo
American’s corporate office in
Johannesburg raised R96,000
($14,180) for Cotlands’
Soweto home-based care
project through the World AIDS
Day Live and Let Live challenge
in December 2006.
Cotlands provides a care centre
for abused or abandoned
HIV-positive and terminally ill
children. The centre helps
around 2,000 children every
month through residential care
and outreach programmes. The
money will help create a food
garden, renovate the Soweto
home and develop incomegenerating
projects such as
sewing and beading.
Continued support from Anglo
American, including a series of
donations over the past five
years totalling over
R50 million ($7,4 million)
from the Chairman’s Fund, has
helped the centre improve its
facilities and the quality of life
for the children.
Aboriginal children from Woorabinda turned out to hear the message, from Australia’s Dawson mine employees, of rewards for hard work.
In his spare time, Themba
Sibisi, a former Anglo
American security guard, has
run a monthly soup kitchen in
Nomzamo Park, an informal
settlement in Soweto, South
Africa, since 2000.
His personal initiative and
leadership have attracted the
help of Anglo American’s
employees in Johannesburg who
realised that a monthly soup
kitchen was simply not enough
to tackle the deprivation in
the area.
After visiting the community
and discussing the needs of
local people, the volunteers
started a number of new, more
sustainable projects. One of
these involves helping residents
to grow their own vegetables.
A competition was launched for
the best-kept vegetable garden,
with children and unemployed
women given a helping hand to
start the gardens. One resident
has had such success that she
is now able to sell some of her
excess produce.
In 2006, local women raised
concerns about AIDS. In
response, an Anglo American
nurse and HIV-positive
AIDS counsellor spoke at a
community meeting. This
has led to plans to provide
more information from health
professionals. Volunteers have
also contributed blankets,
toys and crayons to a day care
centre for children which was
established by a local resident.
Sixty-five babies are now cared
for every day.
Sishen’s Tshono leather
craft and tannery project has
progressed within a few years
from a subsidised, struggling,
start-up operation to a selfsustaining
private business with
money in the bank.
Launched in 2002, in
partnership with the Sishen
mine in South Africa’s Northern
Cape province, it is one of many
local economic development
projects run by Kumba Iron Ore.
Local women were given
training in leather making to
create new job opportunities
in the area. After initially
struggling to make a profit, their
big break came when the crafts
were exhibited at South Africa’s
largest interior décor show,
Decorex. Demand soared. The
women showed considerable
business talent, from design to
manufacture, and there are now
plans to extend the business.
Sishen has handed over the
Tshono project to the crafters.
Skills development is the key
philosophy behind Kumba’s
community projects. The
Itereleng skills centre has been
set up near the Thabazimbi
mine to help train local people
in skills ranging from computer
literacy o construction and
pottery. This is helping local
people gain the necessary
know-how to start up new
businesses which can stimulate
economic development in
the area.
Better housing and health
services and more open
communications are top of the
issues list for the community
close to Dawson coal mine in
Queensland, Australia.
Their concerns are shared
by mine management as
accommodation constraints
make it difficult for the mine to
attract and retain skilled staff
a result of the global resources
boom in all sectors. As a
result, the Moura joint venture,
which runs the mine, is going
to be working closely with the
community and government to
develop solutions.
A socio-economic assessment
conducted at Dawson enabled
community stakeholders to raise
the need for better regional
infrastructure, services and
facilities. As a result, the mine
plans to increase its use of
local businesses and liaise with
state and regional government
to address the broader
community support issues.
They will support community
improvement programmes
through education and training
and education opportunities and
targeted funding for the local
community.
A set of key performance
indicators has been developed
to monitor the social and
economic health of the
community and provide the
information needed for
communicating with
stakeholders.
The mine obtained important
feedback from stakeholders and
also learned that it required
improved data collection and
better communication between
departments.
Community development
workers in Anglo American
Exploration’s joint venture in
the Philippines are determined
to make the community their
partners in development
programmes.
To ensure that they understand
their needs and concerns, they
all immerse themselves in the
community as house guests of
different families.
In this way, the community
workers develop first-hand
knowledge, which ensures the
joint venture contributes to the
well-being of local people while
also tackling any concerns about
company operations.
The community development
programme covers education,
infrastructure, capacity building,
health and environment
management, and sports
and cultural activities. The
emphasis on partnership and
full consultation in all activities
ensures that the company funded
projects are in line with
what the community wants
and needs.
A community centre has been
established to provide a venue
for community meetings and
activities. It has information
materials about the company
and offers the free use of
computers for research to
support the different community
projects. The centre offers a
central point where local people
can visit if they have questions
or concerns about company
activities.
In many of our operational
areas there is a critical need
for housing and the Group has
promoted schemes to enable
employees to own their own
homes. Kumba Iron Ore’s
Sishen mine was one of the first
businesses in South Africa’s
Northern Cape province to
implement this approach.
The business has invested
R5 million ($0.7 million), which
was made available to the
Gamagara local authority for the
development of additional lowcost
housing to meet community
needs in the local town of
Kathu. Approximately 250
houses have been completed to
date, and Sishen is planning to
extend the scheme to include an
additional 600 houses.
Well cared for and tidy land
surrounds the many schools
close to the Union section of
Rustenburg Platinum Mines
in South Africa. But it was
not always this way. Mine
workers noticed the general
environmental neglect of
the area and decided to do
something about it.
In partnership with the tribal and
local authorities, Union mine
works with local school children
to teach them to care for
and value the environment
around them.
Every year, students from more
than 20 schools are taken to
the nearby Pilanesberg national
park. They are taught about
basic environmental principles
and nature conservation in
workshops and discussions.
The students are required to
carry out environmental projects
at their respective schools and
communities, and these are later
judged in a competition.
This scheme has successfully
encouraged young people
to get involved in solving
environmental problems in their
community. There is now an
anti-litter campaign in the area
to which the mine contributes
waste bins, signs and gloves
used by volunteers who
collect litter.
Union mine spends
approximately R100,000
($14,771) each year on these
community programmes.
Not only has this raised
environmental awareness
among young people in the
area, but it has also helped
improve relations between
the mine and surrounding
communities.
Mondi has established a
permanent education and career
development centre in Piet
Retief in the Mkhondo region
of South Africa, following the
overwhelming success of its
three-day career fair in 2004.
The centre provides a one-stop
learning facility designed to
meet the needs of young people
and adults in the community. It
is managed in partnership with
the Mpumalanga province’s
Department of Education, the
Mkhondo municipality and other
mining businesses.
A key focus is to inspire interest
and improve performance in
science and mathematics by
providing support for teachers
and students. Around 35,000
young people each year will be
able to explore possible careers
through the facility’s Career and
Life Skills Centre, where the
emphasis is on skills for jobsearching
and self-employment.
The Further Education and
Training Skills Development
Centre promotes entrepreneurship,
providing much-needed
training and support for those
setting up small businesses.
Anglo Platinum has a programme to raise environmental awareness in school pupils from schools close to its operations.
Highveld Steel funds a number
of projects to improve the
quality of health, education
and the local environment in
the South African communities
where it operates.
The company operates a reward
scheme to encourage schools
to improve the quality of their
teaching. In addition, a wide
range of equipment – from
photocopiers to prefabricated
classrooms – was donated to
local schools in Witbank and
Roossenekal in 2006.
Highveld Steel is contributing
R180,000 ($26,588) to an
NGO, Food and Trees for Africa,
which runs environmental
awareness workshops and
encourages schools to monitor
their environmental impacts.
Highveld is working in
partnership with Anglo
American Chairman’s Fund and
the Mpumalanga Department
of Health to build a primary
healthcare clinic near Witbank.
This is part of a R700,000
($103,397) initiative to
combat HIV/AIDS, cancer and
drug abuse in the area.
The fragile Arctic environment
repairs very slowly and on the
advice of an environmental
specialist better sidewalks
were constructed at the West
Raglan camp to keep people off
the tundra and protect it from
further damage. Recovery is
clearly in progress. Inuit leaders
who visited West Raglan have
expressed gratitude at the
responsible attitude being
shown by Anglo American
teams. At the end of the
exploration programmes, all the
remaining food from the camps
will be distributed to needy
people in the local community.
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