Water security management

Our water management vision is to be a leader in water stewardship – innovatively planning and managing our water resources.

OUR APPROACH

We are committed to responsible and sustainable water use as enshrined in our water management policy. The policy focuses on efficient water reuse and recycling, and aligns with the legislated environmental framework mainly governed by the NWA, supported by the integrated water resource management hierarchy issued by the DWS to prioritise mine and waste management decisions and actions. The hierarchy informs our policy and strategy on mine and wastewater management by:

• Preventing pollution
• Minimising environmental impacts
• Maximising water reuse and reclamation
• Responsible water discharge and disposal
• Water treatment

We implement this policy through our water management standard, which covers mining and industrial water use. This standard articulates our integrated water and waste management plan across each mine's lifecycle, including planning, construction, operation, decommissioning, closure and rehabilitation phases. The standard also reflects management's vision to:

• Ensure a cost-effective integrated approach to water management
• Environmental responsibility
• Ecological sustainability

We implemented a comprehensive programme on responsible and sustainable water management at our BUs, focusing on water use and related risks. This includes security of supply, water efficiency and cost management in terms of current and anticipated regulatory compliance. We support the programme with research and skills development as well as water issues awareness through ongoing communication and training.

We manage water-related risks, minimise impacts and operate efficiently by:

We continue collaborating with other mining houses and universities through the Coaltech research initiative in projects that provide guidelines on sustainable mine water management and mine closure. Our collaboration also affords accurate final land use planning.

The Mine Water Coordinating Body, formed in 2017, further strengthens our public-private collaboration by providing a platform to align our mine water management plans with the National Water Resource Strategy and investigate regional solutions in the Olifants River catchment of Mpumalanga.

Accountability and responsibility

Implementing our policy and practices at an operational level is overseen by the sustainability manager supported by the water team and on-site environmental specialists under the leadership of the executive head: sustainability.

Water is crucial to all our operations and changes in availability or quality will affect production, efficiency and cost.

HOW WE PERFORMED

We continued implementing and improving our water management efficiency, mitigation, maintenance and conservation measures during the year. Highlights include:

• Finalising the Grootegeluk water strategy, which includes a revised water balance simulation over the life of mine (LoM) and recommended changes to infrastructure to enhance water security in short, medium and long-term horizons
• Finalising the Belfast water balance simulation over the LoM to identify wastages and areas to improve efficiency
• Improvement in managing and desilting pollution control dams to allow for sufficient storage over the wet season to be utilised over the dry season
• Investing in research, new and alternative technologies, and technological changes that will increase process efficiency and water recycling and treatment
• Appointing a new tailings dam operator

We were challenged by above-normal rainfall during 2021, which negated the short-term risk of water shortage. We will continue carefully managing excess water.

Data provided is verified as part of the SD assurance process by PwC.

Water security

Water security is the backbone of our water strategy. The fundamental principle of our water management approach is sustainable use of water resources and to actively engage with our fellow water users in the catchment to collectively manage the resource.

Without controlled efforts to maintain water security, we face the risk of production stoppages, financial loss and WUL noncompliances, further impacting the reissue of WULs. The knock-on effect leads to competition for scarce resources, a considerable loss of investment opportunities, and damage to our biodiversity efforts.

We manage security through implementing water conservation plans that holistically assess the impact of available water in the face of climate change. Our mitigation plans include water treatment plants and optimising water storage infrastructure.

Water use and intensity

Our coal operations require good quality freshwater for some of our beneficiation processes, washing activities, and employee domestic use. The balance of our water use can come from localised rainfall storage, recycling, reuse and reclaimed sources. We protect our freshwater, as interruptions to this supply could pose a risk to operational continuity and profitability.

Our primary water source is surface water (including rainwater and water from rivers and lakes), followed by groundwater and third-party sources. Our surface water usage has stabilised after an increase in 2020 due to changes in in-pit conditions at Grootegeluk trapping water in the backfill material reducing our recycling ratio, and the ramp-up of our Belfast operation.

We carefully manage and treat our water discharges. At Matla, we use reverse osmosis to treat contaminated process water to potable standards, and two sewerage treatment plants release treated sewage effluent. Discharges have decreased 30% due to lower underground dewatering and treatment at Matla in 2021 and increased ability to reuse treated sewage effluent in the beneficiation processes as part of our water conservation efforts.

Our total water consumption (water withdrawals less water discharged) for 2021 was 10 281ML. This is a 6% decrease from 2020 due to lower surface water utilisation and increased water efficiency.

Water withdrawal and discharge (ML)	2021	2020	2019
Total water withdrawal	10 890	11 798	9 021
Surface water	8 165	8 877	5 869
Groundwater	1 312	1 368	2 072
Third-party water	1 413	1 553	1 081
Total water discharged	609	874	1 339
Water consumption	10 281	10 924	7 682

We refined our water intensity targets in 2020 and developed a new five-year target in line with industry norms and site-specific conditions. We lowered our previous aggregated target of 200L/t to 180L/t. This target is well below the coal industry average of 380L/t. It supports our strategy to reduce water intake in line with the DWS's drive to increase water conservation and reclamation.

Our overall water efficiency rate deteriorated by 9% due to the higher storages of water at all our operations during 2021 driven by high rainfall.

		Water intensity (L/t)				Water consumption (kL)
Water intensity	Target (L/t) by 2025	2021	2020	2019		2021	2020	2019
Mpumalanga
Belfast	250	237	132	28		654 132	416 628	29 501
Dorstfontein East	280	227	116	168		256 735	219 140	383 541
Dorstfontein West	130	60	66	88		81 064	111 798	112 009
Forzando	180	157	124	70		364 853	406 326	281 797
Leeuwpan	100	27	38	25		106 380	228 085	165 241
Matla	230	190	190	159		1 120 930	1 168 683	950 292
Limpopo
Grootegeluk	170	149	150	99		7 681 560	8 198 145	5 364 282
Gauteng
FerroAlloys	21 000kL	n/a	n/a	n/a		15 175	14 494	18 725
Total group	180	149	137	99		10 280 829	10 763 299	7 305 388

Water recycling

Our target is 38% overall water recycling ratio, defined as the total water recycled divided by total water used (including recycled water), substantially higher than the coal industry average of 6%, as outlined in the national water use efficiency benchmarks of the DWS. Our overall recycling ratio of 46% in 2021 is well within our target range.

*ECC = Divestment completed in September 2021.

Slimes dam at our Grootegeluk BU

Tailings storage facilities

Our tailings management system focuses on the operation, monitoring and decommissioning of the tailings dams and uses comprehensive risk-based management and governance systems in line with internationally recognised good practice. The company has a drive to align the management of tailings with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management.

Our dam assets have clean and polluted water. Dams with a wall height exceeding 5m and a capacity exceeding 50 000m³ are considered dams with a safety risk according to the South African Dam Safety Legislation. Only a few clean and dirty water dams meet above minimum requirements to be classified with the DWS as dams with a safety risk. Once classified, the dams are categorised in categories I, II and III according to their risk potential. A category III dam has the highest hazard potential. The safety classification of the slimes dam was revised in 2020 from a medium to either a high or very high hazard level. Due to the revision, there was a breach analysis executed to determine zone of influence in a failure of the dam, and a team was established to review the risks. The aim is to review current controls to manage these risks, review the current operation and develop a permanent solution.

The table below shows all dams categorised as dams with a safety risk by DWS.

BU			Category I			Category II
Matla			–			Brine ponds
Grootegeluk			–			Cyclic ponds
ECC*			–			Dorstfontein East PCD 1, 2 and 3
Leeuwpan			–			Witklip dam
Durnacol			Durnacol dam number 4			Durnacol dam number 7 Langley dam number 2 Langley dam number 3
Tshikondeni			Unwa dam			–

* Divestment concluded in September 2021.

Water monitoring at ECC in Mpumalanga