Full Disclosure 2016

Royal Bafokeng Platinum Limited's disclosure of environmental non-compliances in annual reports

2011 company reports

Under the heading “Natural Capital” in RBPlat’s 2011 Integrated Annual Report, RBPlat mentions environmental compliance and sanctions in the context of its “summary of challenges and successes” for 2011 and its focus for 2012. The report lists “legal compliance” as a natural capital challenge in 2011 and states that “no fines or non-monetary sanctions were received for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations” as a natural capital success for the year.¹

The report refers to legal compliance in the context of product stewardship, where it states that “there have been no incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning our products,” and that the company has “not received any fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the provision and use of its products and services”.²

Environmental incidents are referred to only in the context of effluent discharge where the report states:

The only spills we have at BRPM are the occasional hydrocarbon spill that is not significant as they are mostly less than 20 litres. These incidents are reported and the spills are cleaned as they occur. The spills are from wear and tear of equipment and accidental spills when containers are being moved around.³

RBPlat’s 2011 Integrated Annual Report does not contain any further references to environmental non-compliances, incidents, complaints or sanctions.

2012 company reports

Under the heading “Natural Capital”, the 2012 Integrated Annual Report lists RBPlat’s environmental improvements, successes and disappointments in 2012. A reference to environmental compliance is made under the list of natural capital improvements, which states that RBPlat “completed installation of system [sic] for the separation of run-off rain water from industrial areas in terms of Regulation 704 of the National Environmental Management Act”.⁴ The report notes, under “disappointments” that the “approval of environmental impact assessment for installation of a water treatment plant at BRPM” is “still awaited”.⁵

Under the heading “product stewardship” it is stated that “there have been no incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning our products and we have not received any fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the provision and use of our products and services”.⁶

There are no additional references to environmental non-compliances, incidents, complaints or sanctions in RBPlat’s 2012 Integrated Annual Report.

2013 company reports

The 2013 Integrated Annual Report states as follows with respect to environmental incidents:

We rolled out our RBPlat environmental strategy during 2013 and achieved a very pleasing environmental performance in 2013, with no environmental incidents and an excellent improvement in energy efficiency and water use reduction.⁷

With respect to compliance, the 2013 Integrated Annual Report lists “managing EIA public participation process” and “responding to non-environmental impact issues raised by communities during EIA participation process” as “challenges” during the reporting year.⁸

The report states as follows with regard to sanctions for non-compliance:

During the recent public participation meetings that we held as part of an environmental impact assessment process and the monthly environmental meetings we have with these communities, the MACHARORA communities raised a number of social and environmental issues. Most of these issues were dealt with in the meetings and will form part of the EIA document. We engage with the DMR, the DWA and the DEA in connection with environmental authorisations. This year our engagement and responses have mainly been in connection with the EIA for the water treatment plant at BRPM, the EMPR amendment for the BRPM North shaft Phase III ventilation shaft and amendments to the BRPM and Styldrift water use licences. We have not had any legal directives, fines or penalties issued against our operations due to non-compliance with regulations and/or licence use requirements.⁹

The report states further:

During our public participation meetings a number of concerns were raised on behalf of the communities. These included damage to access roads, the visual impact of our Styldrift I project and the distribution of water by the Magalies Water. Responses to these concerns have been formulated and will be included in the EIA and EMPR submissions following the public participation process.¹⁰

The report states that “there have been no incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning our products and we have not received any fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the provision and use of our products and services”.¹¹

There are no additional references to environmental non-compliances, incidents, complaints or sanctions in RBPlat’s 2013 Integrated Annual Report.

2014 company reports

RBPlat’s 2014 Integrated Annual Report states as follows regarding environmental compliance:

We complied with all environmental legislation in 2014 and addressed three environmental contraventions following a DMR inspection.¹²

The report provides further detail regarding these contraventions:

We were disappointed that during a DMR inspection at Styldrift I on 19 June 2014 a Section 93 notice was issued in terms of the MPRDA. The inspectors identified three minor contraventions: the bund wall at one of the hydrocarbon storage areas was too small; oil filters were incorrectly disposed of on bare ground next to a waste rock dump and in one area the inspectors found that we were not effectively minimising the effects of liberated dust, which led to air pollution. All three of these issues have since been rectified.¹³

The report once again lists public participation in the EIA process as a “challenge” in the reporting year.¹⁴

The report states that “there have been no incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning our products and we have not received any fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the provision and use of our products and services”.¹⁵

There are no additional references to environmental non-compliances, incidents, complaints or sanctions in RBPlat’s 2014 Integrated Annual Report.

2015 company reports

The 2015 Integrated Annual Report lists possible non-compliance with environmental laws as a “top strategic risk”:

Our environmental and climate change management could result in non-compliance with key legislation, which may lead to the withdrawal of mine-related licences (mineral rights/water etc.) negatively impacting mining operations and costs.¹⁶

RBPlats lists its response to this risk as:

Ongoing monitoring of licence requirements.¹⁷

The report also states that RBPlats had established a new approach to the public participation process with regard to obtaining approval for future mining at Styldrift II as part of the EIA process:

Instead of only having a public participation meeting we tried out a new approach, which has involved training members of the local community to conduct independent house-to house engagement with community members regarding mining at Styldrift II.¹⁸

There are no additional references to environmental non-compliances, incidents, complaints or sanctions in RBPlat’s 2015 Integrated Annual Report.