Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore says its Sishen and Kolomela mines in South Africa have been assessed against the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance's (IRMA) comprehensive mining standard, achieving the IRMA 75 level of performance.
The diversified mining group said this reflects its integrated approach to sustainability and commitment to transparency in striving for the highest levels of responsible iron ore production.
“As part of our commitment to leading in ESG practices, we are dedicated to delivering premium quality iron ore products that help to reduce carbon emissions in the steel-making process, while helping our customers meet the growing demand for responsibly sourced materials in an efficient and independently verified way,” said Kumba chief executive Mpumi Zikalala.
“Through the IRMA assurance process, we have been able to evaluate our sustainability performance at Sishen and Kolomela mines, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that we strive to adhere to the highest standards of responsible mining.”
IRMA executive director Aimee Boulanger said the Sishen and Kolomela reports demonstrate that these mines can point to transparent, independent evaluations of their environmental and social performance.
The IRMA scoring system recognises four levels of performance.
These are IRMA transparency, in which a mine is third-party-assessed and publicly shares its scores; IRMA 50, 75, or 100, signifying that a mine meets a core set of critical requirements together with at least 50%, 75%, or 100% of the requirements in each of the four sections of the standard for responsible mining being met, respectively.
IRMA's standard for responsible mining has been developed over a decade through a public consultation process with more than 100 different individuals and organisations, including mining companies, customers and the ultimate downstream users of mined products, non-governmental organisations, labour unions, and communities, and is considered to be one of the most rigorous certification processes.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
