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Anglo American: The Reality Anglo American plc’s response to Mr. Philip Mattera’s report entitled “Anglo American’s Track Record: Rhetoric or Reality?” 14 August 2008 “We greatly value the contribution Anglo American makes to the sustainable development of the country and the places where it operates.” Minister of Mines, Chile “An international best practice… The [SEAT] toolkit represents one of the most significant corporate investments we know of to equip personnel to better understand, plan, implement and account for the social and economic performance at the local operations level.” Leading US NGO Business for Social Responsibility "Anglo American … has been at the forefront of creating sustainable black economic empowerment over many years." Director General, Department of Minerals and Energy, South Africa “[Anglo’s HIV/AIDS program] is one of the most important commitments made to date by a company in tackling AIDS in Africa. We will work with other companies in the region to follow Anglo American’s leadership.” CEO of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria “[A] commitment to the communities, the region and the country as a whole…we want more companies acting like Anglo American.” Minister of Mines, Chile Anglo American: The Reality On July 31, 2008, Mr. Philip Mattera, a private investigator based in Washington DC, published a report entitled: “Anglo American’s Track Record: Rhetoric or Reality?” The report was commissioned by the Renewable Resources Coalition, and Nunamta Aulukestai, two groups which oppose the Pebble project in Alaska in which Anglo American has a 50 percent interest through its US subsidiary, Anglo American US (Pebble) LLC. The question posed by Mr. Mattera is: does Anglo American live up to its stated corporate principles and the high standards they set? Mr. Mattera decides that the answer is no and presents a 34-page report to support his conclusion. Anglo American is open to, and welcomes, scrutiny of its track record, but we will respond vigorously to misrepresentation or error. The reality is that Mr. Mattera’s conclusion is wrong: Anglo American is recognized around the world as an industry leader in sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Numerous independent and highly respected third parties have vouched for the quality of our performance in these areas. In July 2008, Anglo American received the award for Best International Business in Africa from the Commonwealth Business Council for our leading work in fighting HIV/AIDS, our promotion of social investment and enterprise development, and our highly-regarded Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT). This was in addition to an award recognizing Anglo American as the company making the greatest contribution to achieving the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals in Africa. In November 2007, the leading US corporate responsibility NGO, Business for Social Responsibility, hailed SEAT – which helps govern the management of our relationships with our host communities world-wide – as an international best practice. We have also been recognized for excellence in South America. In 2007 Chile’s Minister of Mines Karen Poniachik lauded Anglo American’s energy efficiency program, and praised our “commitment to the communities, the region and the country as a whole…we want more companies acting like Anglo American”. In December 2007, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet presented Anglo American with a prestigious Bicentenary Seal for our commitment to fostering the development of small and medium enterprises – an area where the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, has also recognized Anglo American’s leadership. The seal was one of the only seven handed out by the Chilean government to recognize initiatives that will create a more socio-economically equitable Chile by the time the country celebrates 200 years of independence in 2010. This year, Minister Poniachik’s successor went on to declare “We greatly value the contribution Anglo American makes to the sustainable development of the country and the places where it operates.” Clearly the government of Chile – a country where Anglo American has multiple mining operations – knows the reality of Anglo American, and recognizes the Company lives up to our principles. More details of recent awards and recognition we have received can be found at: http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/aa/development/performance. A selection of recent major awards is also presented below in Table 1. Table 1 Selected Recent Major Awards Won by Anglo American • Most Trusted Resources Company in South Africa, Trust Barometer Awards, South Africa, August 2008 • Best International Business in Africa, Commonwealth Business Council African Business Awards, July 2008 • Award for Gender Sensitivity, Commonwealth Business Council African Business Awards, July 2008 • Award for the Business Making the Largest Contribution to Alleviating Poverty in Africa through Supporting the Millennium Development Goals, Commonwealth Business Council African Business Awards, July 2008 • Environmental Management Award for the Mantoverde Copper Mine in Chile, presented by the Regional President, July 2008 • Winner in Skills Development Category, Anglo’s South African Iron Ore Business, national Top Empowerment Company Awards, South Africa, May 2008 • Award of Presidential Seal for Contributions to Socio-Economic Development in Chile, one of just seven seals being awarded to celebrate Chile’s bicentenary in 2010, December 2007 • Anglo American ranked first among mining companies in Pacific Sustainability Index, Claremenont McKenna College, California, December 2007 • Winner: Best Corporate and Best Overall Enterprise Development Programs in South Africa, South African Enterprise Development Awards, November 2007 • Environmental Management Systems Award for Anglo’s Amandelbult Platinum Mine, South African national Green Mining Awards, October 2007 • Sustainability Award for Anglo’s Emalahleni Water Treatment Project at Witbank, which treats coal mine waste water to drinking water standards for supply to local communities, South African national Green Mining Awards, October 2007 • Award for best Sustainable Development Reporting in Chile, national sustainability reporting awards, Chile, September 2007 In his report, Mr. Mattera suggests that Anglo American has no experience operating in extreme conditions such as those in Alaska. In fact, Anglo American has successful operations in a variety of extreme conditions. For example, some of the Company’s Chilean operations are situated at altitudes as high as 14,500 feet in the Andes; weather and temperature conditions there can be very severe. De Beers is an Associate Company with whom there is active knowledge and expertise sharing; harsh arctic conditions are the norm at their diamond mine at Snap Lake, 140 miles north-east of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Mr. Mattera also implies that the name “Anglo American” is used deliberately to be misleading. In fact, our name was based on the origins of the capital used to start up the Company in 1917: half from the United States, half from the United Kingdom. Our name has remained unchanged to this day. This document presents a properly representative picture of Anglo American’s track record, and corrects those statements of Mr. Mattera’s that are inaccurate, selective, incomplete or distorted representations of our record. We will take each of the ten cases he cites and present the factual story. An honest assessment of our record must reflect the historical picture. Anglo American was established over 90 years ago. Modern mining, as practiced by leading companies like Anglo American in the 21st century, bears no relation to mining in the past. Many decades ago, regulatory environmental standards were virtually non-existent, and the advanced technologies that today enable environmentally responsible mining were not yet available. Most jurisdictions now have rigorous regulations which are not only accepted but also supported by leading companies such as Anglo American. Alaska is no exception. We welcome strong regulation since it helps to ensure public trust, creates a level playing field for all companies, and creates greater predictability. We also recognize that strong regulation reflects the high expectations that governments, communities, our own employees and society as a whole have of modern mining. Mines can have very long lives, often spanning many decades. Old mines, like other industrial facilities, were designed to different environmental standards to those that apply today. Historically, as was the case with all industrial operations, mistakes were indeed made by the mining industry, some with severe environmental or human consequences. Where Anglo American has been faced with any incidents we have tackled them energetically, as our own reporting illustrates. In fact, Mr. Mattera’s frequent references to Anglo American’s own reports bear witness to our commitment to open, transparent reporting. On occasion Anglo American has inherited operational problems that were not of our making. As one example, Mr. Mattera cites pollution from the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana. The gold reserves at Obuasi have been mined since 1895 and during its history there have been severe problems which have led to pollution cited by Mr. Mattera. Anglo American’s brief involvement, through our former subsidiary AngloGold Ashanti, began in 2004. Since that time huge progress has been made
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