African Rainbow Minerals : ARM UN SGD 2022 (708.31 KB)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 17 SDGs are a call to action to drive a global collaboration to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

The underlying targets in each SDG aim to achieve the goals set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by ensuring that growth and development address the world's many urgent social and environmental challenges.

SDG

How ARM contributes

We contribute to the national and local economies by providing direct employment, sourcing goods and services locally where possible, paying taxes and royalties, building capacity in local communities, providing educational support for community schools and promoting economic activity through enterprise and supplier development initiatives. Infrastructure projects under local economic development (LED) programmes align with local government priorities and support community resilience by prioritising essential services such as water infrastructure in the water-scarce Northern Cape. Corporate social investment (CSI) programmes provide support for the poor, sick and vulnerable in local communities.

Mining has impacts on water, land and biodiversity resources in traditionally agricultural areas, which may be a concern for farmers and local communities, with the potential to become a source of social conflict. Our precautionary approach to environmental stewardship includes managing our impacts on natural resources, engaging about water at the catchment level, consultative land management, including biodiversity conservation, and rehabilitation and closure planning. The focus of our CSI programmes includes projects that support the poor and vulnerable, including infants.

Our wellness programme integrates safety, occupational hygiene and health, TB, HIV and Aids, and chronic disease management. Ongoing protocols are in place to ensure the health and wellbeing of employees and contractors during Covid-19. ARM operations support awareness, testing campaigns and outreach initiatives to address TB, HIV and Aids among employees and in communities.

Beeshoek, Black Rock, Khumani, Modikwa and Two Rivers mines partner with the provincial Department of Health through Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to strengthen the implementation of provincial TB, HIV and Aids, STIs and chronic disease management strategies, and extend primary healthcare services to contractors and communities. These mines were approved as Covid-19 vaccination sites for employees and local communities to support the government vaccination drive.

Black Rock Mine partners with the Northern Cape DoH to provide primary healthcare services to the Black Rock community.

CSI and LED projects at the operations focus on building capacity in local communities and prioritise women, HIV and Aids projects, advancing people living with disabilities, youth and the socially destitute. Projects in F2022 included donating and distributing masks, hand sanitiser and thermometers to local schools to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, refurbishing a hospital ward, donating medical equipment and a three-year health screening and promotion project at local schools.

For more information

• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)
• Human resources management (pages 94 to 104)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• Occupational health and wellness (pages 85 to 93)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) continued

SDG

How ARM contributes

ARM works with local government to increase local capacity and through technical, vocational and educational training programmes for the current and future workforce. Learnership programmes and our graduate development programme provide opportunities for unemployed youth. Adult education and training (AET) provided at ARM operations to employees and community members helps to improve literacy and numeracy.

CSI and LED projects and the ARM BBBEE Trust include investments in infrastructure to build/upgrade or furnish schools. Contributions from the operations during the year included donating school uniforms, constructing an early childhood development centre and donating mobile classrooms to local schools and communities for AET.

ARM promotes gender diversity through Women in Mining committees at operations, a Female Leader Profile, a gender mainstreaming project and Women Development and Women in Leadership Development training programmes. Training programmes include a focus on women development. We actively recognise women's rights to property and resources, include women as stakeholders in consultation processes, and create inclusive access to jobs and economic opportunities. ARM's CSI and LED projects focus on building capacity in local communities and prioritise women.

Water is essential for production and for the health and wellbeing of employees and surrounding communities. We consider water availability and quality in project planning, operational and closure considerations and consult with regulators and communities to ensure this essential resource is responsibly managed and shared.

ARM's ongoing focus on improving water reporting promotes water-use efficiency and all operations run closed-circuit water systems to the extent possible to maximise recycling and minimise discharge into the environment. We are setting context-based water targets.

Promoting water access and improving water infrastructure for schools and communities is a focus for our LED and CSI programmes and the ARM Trust. In F2022 this included providing water infrastructure to provide clean water in local communities, providing sanitation to households, donating a water truck and removing invasive alien plants along riverbeds.

Our operations use significant energy and improving energy effciency reduces costs and carbon emissions. We continue to actively explore opportunities to invest in renewable energy technologies and procure clean energy from renewable sources. The metals ARM produces are used in clean energy solutions.

For more information

• Human resources management (pages 94 to 104)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)

• Human resources management (pages 94 to 104)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• 2022 climate change and water report available on our website www.arm.co.za

• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)
• 2022 climate change and water report available on our website www.arm.co.za

SDG

How ARM contributes

The metals and alloys our operations produce play a key role in the infrastructure that promotes economic growth. We provide direct and indirect employment, promote entrepreneurship and grow small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) through enterprise and supplier development programmes. Preferencing local procurement creates large economic multipliers.

Skills development initiatives include opportunities for unemployed youth and graduates. Internal benchmarking ensures equal pay for work for equal value. ARM's safety initiatives promote safe and secure work environments and we have controls in place to ensure that labour rights are protected, and that we do not use forced or child labour. A diversity programme is in place that includes a focus on raising awareness regarding people with disability (PWD) and increasing PWD representation wherever practical.

The metals and alloys our operations produce are essential parts of the infrastructure that supports industrialisation. Developing, operating and mining requires a meaningful investment in infrastructure, particularly in remote areas. Our LED projects include significant investments in community infrastructure that supports economic development and human wellbeing.

ARM's enterprise and supplier development programmes support entrepreneurs and SMMEs, and help to include them in the mining value chain. These initiatives prioritise support for historically disadvantaged people and thereby promote inclusive growth. ARM conducts research and development to identify innovative applications in mining technology.

The code of conduct emphasises our resolute stance against unfair discrimination and we promote equality and the inclusion of previously disadvantaged groups, including women, and people with disabilities. We embrace an inclusive approach to community consultation and participation in decision-making.

ARM's housing strategy promotes access to decent accommodation by helping employees access affordable housing. Our operations produce metals and alloys that are essential for infrastructure development and constructing cities. Our LED infrastructure projects support community resilience and provide basic services including access to water, sewage services, schools and roads.

For more information

• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)
• Human resources management (pages 94 to 104)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)

• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)

• Human resources management (pages 94 to 104)
• Stakeholder engagement (pages 42 to 49)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)
• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) continued

SDG

How ARM contributes

Sustainable practices and environmental responsibility inform the way we approach our activities. The waste management programme aims to reduce waste production, promote recycling wherever possible and ensure safe disposal at appropriate facilities. ARM is committed to tailings management and standards that align with national and global good practices to preserve health, safety, and the environment during all phases of the mining life cycle. Water discharges that are below the quality specified in their WULs are reported to the relevant authorities and clean-up and mitigation action undertaken. Air emissions at Cato Ridge Works are managed by cleaning equipment in line with its air emission licence. The information in the integrated annual report and this ESG report demonstrate ARM's integrated approach to sustainability reporting.

We report publicly our carbon emissions in this ESG report and in the 2022 climate change and water report. We have set a 2050 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. Carbon emission reduction targets are included in executive incentives. We address climate change by reducing our carbon footprint and by engaging in dialogue with stakeholders to enhance adaptive capacities and integrate climate change measures into policies and strategies.

ARM operations are all inland and do not have a direct impact on marine resources. Our approach to water management aims to maximise recycling and minimise discharge into the environment, including freshwater ecosystems such as rivers and streams. We work closely with our partners to ensure safe and responsible shipping with minimal risk to marine ecology.

We acknowledge our responsibility to conserve biodiversity around our operations, particularly in the context of the declining state of global biodiversity. Our approach to biodiversity conservation aligns with the ICMM Position Statement on Mining and Protected Areas. We are committed to net positive biodiversity impact, or to compensation for negative impact, as appropriate.

We respect human rights, provide access to information, support representative decision-making, work to avoid company-community conflict and carefully manage our security approaches to ensure they decrease rather than increase the likelihood of conflict. ARM has a zero-tolerance approach to unethical and improper conduct, including bribery, corruption and money laundering. We commit to transparency across the scope of our activities that impact society, from transparency of mineral revenues and payments to transparency in commitments made to local communities.

We believe in partnering on SDG-related challenges at local, national and global levels and in collaborative approaches to sustainable development with all our stakeholders. We participate in public-private partnerships to promote community health (see goal 3) and collaborate with public and private-sector stakeholders to promote water security and coordinate community development.

For more information

• Our value contribution (pages 14 and 15)
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)

• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• 2022 climate change and water report available on our website www.arm.co.za
• Our value chain (page 111)
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• 2022 climate change and water report available on our website www.arm.co.za
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• Biodiversity tables (pages 22 to 28 of this supplement)
• Stakeholder engagement (pages 42 to 49)
• Social and ethics committee chairman's report
  (pages 18 to 22)
• Our approach to sustainable value creation
  (pages 30 and 31)
• Ethics (page 32)
• Human rights (page 111)
• Stakeholder engagement (pages 42 to 49)
• Our approach to sustainable value creation
  (pages 30 and 31)
• Environment (pages 51 to 77)
• 2022 climate change and water report available on our website www.arm.co.za
• Community impacts (pages 106 to 111)