We are the custodians of the land and ecosystems that surround our locations across the globe. In that role, we are responsible for making sure we leave an area in a better state than when we arrived there, achieving Net Positive Impact or NPI.
And as part of the goals and targets set out in the Environment pillar of our Sustainable Mining Plan, we aim to show a clear pathway to achieving NPI via our actions on the ground and by putting the right systems in place by 2030.
So, to mark World Wildlife Day this year, we’re showcasing some of the work we’re doing to help us reach those goals:
Protecting our heritage
The camphor laurels on the Vergelegen estate in South Africa’s Western Cape were planted in 1705 by the estate’s original owner. Today, along with the rest of the estate owned by Anglo American, they have provincial protected heritage status.
The Vergelegen estate incorporates a working vineyard producing some of South Africa’s finest wines, the Cape Dutch estate house, and an 1800-hectare nature reserve, which is overseen by the estate’s environmental project manager, Eben Olderwagen.
The role is a perfect one for a man who has been passionate about nature since childhood. “When I was at high school, I decided this was the line of work I wanted to go into,” says Eben.
He joined the Vergelegen team, first as a contractor in 2009 and later as an employee in 2018, just as the estate’s alien clearing project – aimed at removing damaging plant life - was coming to an end.
It took almost 20 years to clear the reserve of the likes of pine and eucalyptus trees. “Now we’re in maintenance phase and it is our job to ensure they don’t come back,” says Eben.
The clearing gave the indigenous vegetation on the nature reserve a chance to rehabilitate and Vergelegen is now home to some endangered plant species including Lachenalia liliflora, which was thought to be extinct. The reserve also has two complete vegetation types classified as critically endangered: Swartland Shale Renosterveld and Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos.
The return of native plant species has also had a positive impact on wildlife, including bird life.
Says Eben: “We’ve been doing a monthly bird count on the property for the last 25 years. We had just over 50 species making their home here. Now it’s 164, including a pair of breeding Blue Cranes, South Africa’s national bird. And you can plot that rise on a graph from the time we started the alien clearing programme.”
In 2020, the estate opened a 165-hectare game farm. It’s home to a number of Eland (large antelope), which were introduced as part of a research project. The aim of the project is to study the effect of large heavy-hoofed animals on the soil specific to the Western Cape. “Historically, large herbivores such as Eland would have been found here but there were all hunted out by early settlers and now are only found on big game farms in the north of the country,” commented Eben.
“We’ve brought them back to their natural environment to see what sort of impact they’ll have on the vegetation and biodiversity here.”
The game farm is taking part in a selective breeding programme to bring back the characteristics of the extinct quagga, a sub-species of the zebra. They also have reebok and other small antelope that are native to the mountains in the area.
Vergelegen partners with the Cape Leopard Trust and, via the wildlife cameras placed out in the field, they regularly capture images of Cape leopards, honey badgers, and caracal. Later this year, the game farm will be expanded to just under 500 hectares and more indigenous species will be introduced.
A worldwide investment
The work done in Vergelegen is being replicated at Anglo American sites across the business. Some of our selected programmes include the following:
- In partnership with the Instituto Espinhaco in Brazil, we have invested in a project designed to recover 23 sources of the River Santo Antonio. We have also donated US$5 million to the Amazon Protected Areas Program (Arpa), responsible for the conservation of more than 60 million hectares of the Amazon and we also maintain some of our own forestry areas (20K HA) around Minas Rio as well as running a native vegetation nursery.
- In the Ladycross woodland area in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, we’re investing in native ecosystem restoration and education programmes as part of our approach to our Woodsmith project and the surrounding area.
- In Chile, we are the sole owners of the Los Nogales sanctuary that incorporates 11,000 hectares dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity. In El Soldado we also have 2,100 hectares given over to conservation and reforestation.
- Our Kumba Iron Ore business in South Africa has set aside 4,700 hectares for biodiversity offsets and has reintroduced sable and buffalo to the Northern Cape.
- In our De Beers business, and in line with their Building Forever sustainability goals, they invested US$2 million investment in Kelp Blue, a company developing a pioneering nature-based solution for sequestering carbon and supporting biodiversity.
- Our Namdeb business, in partnership with the Debmarine-Namdeb Foundation, set up two Seabird Emergency Units in South Africa. This saves birds from an 800km journey to the closest sanctuary and helps protect endangered species such as the African penguin.
Read more about our commitment to nature here.
