Community

Consultation with local communities, local government and non-governmental organisations on the impending closure of the Ergo operation has taken place at numerous levels and over an extended period of time. The following discussion captures some of these.

Ergo has been an active member of the community of the East Rand since it opened 25 years ago - this through its close association with the local municipalities as well as its membership of the Springs Chamber of Commerce. As far back as the year 2000, Ergo informed the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality that closure was rapidly approaching and that this would have significant impact on the local community. These discussions moved to a more formal basis in 2003 when the Ekurhuleni Mining Forum was initiated for interested and affected parties (I&APs), informal miners, community members and the Local Economic Development (LED) department of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. One of the Ekurhuleni Mining Forum's focus areas is sustainable development.

The Mining Forum, which also discusses general Mining Charter issues and the activities of mining companies within the Ekurhuleni district, meets once a quarter; it was at this forum that the so called 'Project Hloekisa' initiative was first raised with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

The objective of this project is to remove all remaining gold residue dumps on the East Rand, thereby removing potential future environmental problems, making land available for urban development as well as providing ongoing employment for many people in a depressed labour market. The project would make use of Ergo's reclamation and pumping infrastructure and would possibly utilise Ergo's Brakpan plant to extract any residual gold. Though still in the conceptual phase, a preliminary study concluded that the project would require funding of more than R5 billion ($800 million) over a 20 year period and, although offset to some extent by available gold recovery, would still result in a net loss of some R3.5 billion ($550 million). However, it has the backing of the Ekurhuleni's department of LED, from a land rehabilitation point of view - land which the Metro foresees as having potential for future business and commercial development. Karuna Mohan, Executive Director of LED, said that she is impressed with Ergo's responsible handling of the closure and that the Hloekisa Project is seen as a priority project by the Executive Mayor of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan.

"Because much of the land is privately-owned, it needs a partnership with government to successfully integrate into the municipality's Spatial Development Framework. In the meantime, we are talking to property owners to unlock the potential of land already recovered by Ergo," says Mohan. "It positions the local economy for take-off with regards to economic investment," she adds.

Reports concerning Ergo's impending closure are also given to the Springs Chamber of Commerce and Industry by Ergo's general manager, Alan Muir, who is a member of the Industrial Committee. The Chamber's main project is a Business Linkage Centre to empower small enterprises by linking them with bigger businesses. Ergo's Chris Wiseman sits on the Steering Committee of this initiative.

Consultation with the community at a direct level started in 2001 following a report from the Legal Resources Centre which criticised Ergo for not having an arena for community discussion around issues that affected them. The two surrounding townships which had grievances were those of Tsakane/Kwa-Thema and Kingsway Lindelani, both of which had complaints about windblown dust from adjacent tailings dumps. The Community Forum, which was subsequently established, allows Ergo to engage with these communities on topics of interest such as the measures that the operation is taking to minimise dust levels; ongoing tests to establish health risks associated with the dust; and to conduct site visits to affected areas. Ergo also used the Community Forum as a platform to discuss the impending closure of the operation. Although there was initial interest from both parties, attendance by the Kwa-Thema group tapered off, after it became apparent that jobs were not on offer.

Another means of interaction with the community has been the Local Area Committee of the AngloGold Ashanti Fund. Since September 2000, this committee disburses R50,000 per year in response to requests from local communities to support deserving charities, for example, soup kitchens and HIV/AIDS organisations, and to support sustainable projects like vegetable gardens.

Another initiative currently being undertaken by the Fund will continue well after closure. Aimed at uplifting education and community care over a three-year period, the R6 million ($940,000) donation will be used for maths and science capacity-building for both learners and tutors at a number of primary and secondary schools. (See case study: Ergo programme focuses on maths and science education.)