Page 66 - 25 Reasons

By Gayle Edmunds
hen it comes to what the mine of the
future will look like, July Ndlovu, the
WCEO of Anglo American’s coal business
in South Africa, is taken with the idea that it
looks no different from a farm. This might sound
far-fetched, and it is – for now.
Ndlovu’s industry change is already here – not
only the urgent changes needed to mitigate the
climate crisis, but the technological advances
that will change the face of mining. The most
exciting part of this technological change for him
is “taking people out of harm’s way, from a safety
and health point of view – taking them away
from the coalface”.
With its remaining coal operations, the
company is taking whatever steps are possible
throughout the coal value chain to reduce the
fossil fuel’s footprint. This is in line with reaching
the goals Anglo American has set regarding
being a trusted corporate leader, ensuring its
communities thrive and maintaining a healthy
environment.
Ndlovu also says that, globally, the pressure on
the use of coal as a resource will continue to
increase and the share of coal within the world’s July Ndlovu, CEO of Anglo American’s Coal business in South Africa PHOTO: LEON SADIKI
energy mix will remain steady over the next
decade, while the share of renewable energy
picks up significantly. NO LONGER AT THE
For Ndlovu, one of the most exciting aspects
of his business is how it is able to create jobs
down the value chain, and he is heavily invested
in uplifting women, saying it is “our national COALFACE
aspiration”.
“Last year, we brought people in from the
local communities to our inclusive procurement
day and I made a bold declaration – and my
supply chain team is tearing its hair out,” he IN NUMBERS that is quite an exciting breakthrough. Is it going
laughs. to be easy? Maybe not. But we are beginning to
“I said: ‘We want to have doubled our see some green shoots that are quite exciting.
“The reality is that big companies don’t create R7.3bn
procurement spend with black-owned small “How we significantly reduce the amount of
businesses by 2020.’ energy we use in mining is quite an interesting
breakthrough. Whether that means you upgrade
jobs, we don’t. Jobs are created by these small SPENT BY ANGLO AMERICAN the ore before you process it so you are handling
entrepreneurs and I think this is the way we are COAL SA’S SIX MINES IN 2018 less and less material. It not only has an energy
going to start seeing a change in jobs beginning WITH BEE-COMPLIANT COMPANIES benefit, but it also significantly reduces our
to be created in and around our communities, environmental footprint. We look at these things
and, if we do it right, these are sustainable jobs in an integrated way, and because we are
because we give them capacity and skills not R1.3bn looking at it in a much more intentional way, we
just to do work for us, but for anybody else. are making much more progress than ever
“I think we have to play a role because, INVESTED WITH SMMES IN 2018 before. That is quite exciting for me.”
ultimately, what people are looking for is access Though the challenges are many for a person
and we have got the skills and knowledge. If we R81.1m heading up a coal business, Ndlovu says that
to markets. We are the market and we can help
with that. The second thing they lack is skills,
what gets him up in the morning is that “we
bring those two together and seed it correctly INVESTED IN 2018 ON MINE make a huge difference in people’s lives and,
therefore, what we do matters”.
and responsibly, I think that is the foundation for COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT “I had never quite internalised this issue in my
creating jobs in the future. It is not going to mind until I got into coal, which is that the
be new big mines; we are not going to create products that we produce can make the most
those jobs.” R29m difference to people’s lives – look at what is
He also believes the work Anglo American is around you, someone probably mined it at some
doing in the FutureSmart Mining™ space is SPENT ON INFRASTRUCTURE- point. So, when we in Anglo American crafted
revolutionary: “A vision that appeals to me is that RELATED PROJECTS this purpose that said to reimagine mining to
I could walk on a mine and that it would all look improve people’s lives, I started looking at the
the same as if I was walking on a farm. That is so things we do through a completely different
different a paradigm in mining. Even if we don’t sustainability point of view in mining – energy lens. Coal provides cheap, accessible, secure,
get there and we only get halfway, I think we and water. We are thinking about how we stop resilient energy to power development and to
will have changed society forever. using water in our processing plants, which are get people out of poverty. If you don’t give
“What we are starting to grapple with are significant consumers of water, and we compete people power, I think it is a pipe dream to think
some of the most intractable problems from a with society for water, by the way. And I think people will get out of poverty.”
66 ANGLO AMERICAN 25 REASONS TO BELIEVE