The yin and yang of public and private partnerships

Of all the metals that make modern life possible, the most widely used one is steel. However, the popularity of steel is not only related to its individual qualities.

Let’s take modern construction, for example. Steel has been vastly used in constructions for over the past century; it has allowed us to build structures of over 2,500 feet tall, making them more resistant than ever before.

However, even for these structures, steel is only half of the equation. Modern buildings rely on the different properties of their materials. Concrete, for example, is strong, steel is ductile; together, in reinforced concrete, they use their different properties to create a better solution.

We can learn valuable lessons from this winning combination, as better solutions are certainly needed for the crucial issues we face today. With the climate crisis threatening our ecosystems and global epidemics deteriorating populations, we must join towards common goals that will benefit society.

Together we are stronger

In our globalised economy, we can see such an example in public and private sector partnerships, particularly in the mining industry. Both support and sustain one another and must stand in a dual position to address global issues. Leading businesses, which pave the way in their industry sector, can help to make goals set by governments and charities a reality, through providing financial investment or other resources.

Public organisations are helping private companies, like ourselves, with guidance and tools to improve the lives of the people linked to our operations – whether that be employees or host communities. However, we can also support them and enable not-for-profit organisations to reach more people through the funding, infrastructure, and technical expertise that private companies provide.

Working with International Alert has allowed us to improve security, risk assessment and management processes in our Chile, Peru and South Africa operations, significantly benefitting our employees. While collaborating with UNAIDS represents our support to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and achieve the ambitious 90-90-90 target, having 90% of all people living with HIV knowing their status and receiving sustained antiretroviral therapy and viral suppression by 2020.

We stand for the value of public-private partnerships

At Anglo American, we strongly believe in the yin-and-yang of public-private partnerships. We are certain that working as a team towards common goals and leveraging each other’s strengths will allow us to develop the best solutions possible and build a better and reinforced future for our host communities and employees.