Sustainable development

Prototype gypsum house being shown to delegates from World BusinessCouncil for Sustainable Development

Anglo Platinum and our thermal coal business have developed innovative ways of turning mining and industrial process by-products materials into commercially viable resources, with positive environmental, social and economic impacts. One such product will contribute towards affordable housing solutions for low-income households.

Anglo Platinum has committed itself to a ‘zero waste’ target for its Polokwane smelter in South Africa’s Limpopo province. Essentially, this means the elimination of mining-process by-products, which would otherwise be an environmental liability and require costly disposal.

There were two options to achieve this target: improved process efficiency and the re-use of unavoidable by-products. The Polokwane smelter generates some 50,000 tonnes per month of smelter slag. The original design of the smelter envisaged that slag would be milled and sent through a float plant to recover residual valuable metals. Smelter operating efficiency and recovery were of such high quality, however, that further processing of the slag proved uneconomical.

Anglo Platinum’s Polokwane metallurgical centre and Anglo’s Technical Division have jointly been evaluating the slag and exploring whether there is scope for product innovation in respect of this material.

Wet process methodologies have proved the most promising and the slag is suitable for use in certain mining and building products.

At our Emalahleni operation in Witbank where the water treatment plant’s primary by-product, gypsum, was subjected to the same process, excellent results were obtained. Gypsum is lightweight, sets rapidly, with good acoustic as well as fire-retardant properties and, combined with other materials, can result in good building board.

These two projects have subsequently been integrated and the various possible products are being developed and evaluated for viability. A number of high-potential products are in various stages of development; this includes a housing system. All products have undergone exhaustive health and safety testing with third parties.

The housing system is an innovative, integrated, sustainable development project, which Anglo American expects to deliver broad-based benefits to the Company, the environment, and local economies. The modular, pre-fabricated house takes only a few days to erect, and should help to alleviate the housing backlog in South Africa. Anglo American will use this opportunity to introduce unique construction skills to unskilled and semi-skilled individuals through an accredited training process.

With the assistance of the Anglo American Zimele enterprise development unit, business opportunities arising from this product and others will be investigated to create sustainable small and medium enterprises. The intent with any such beneficiation activity is job creation adjacent to operations – a key requirement of South Africa’s Mining Charter.

The housing project team has submitted a bankable business plan, engaged with potential financial partners and is conducting social assessments to understand community perceptions of the housing system.