Water
security

Our approach

Water security management is a critical component of our overall operational and environmental management as we are sensitive to South Africa’s water scarcity and the effects of climate change, particularly increased temperatures and rainfall variability. Without controlled efforts to maintain water security, we risk production stoppages, financial loss and non‑compliance with water authorisations. The consequences could impact our licence to operate, increase competition for scarce resources, limit investment opportunities and damage our biodiversity efforts.

Our water management policy is supported by our group water strategy, which aims for excellent compliance with policies, standards and processes, stakeholder partnerships and technologies for operational water efficiency.

We implement this policy through our water management standard, which covers mining and industrial water use, water authorisations and site-specific water management plans including:

• Water-related risk assessments
• Water conservation and demand management
• Stormwater controls
• Security of supply
• Water monitoring
• Water balance simulations

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

• Reducing, reusing and recycling water in line with water conservation plans that support the National Water Resource Strategy
• Providing suitable barriers to our dirty water facilities that prevent groundwater contamination
• Committing to protecting and improving water quality by discharging treated water at our operations through reverse osmosis and/or sewage treatment plants
• Incorporating climate analytics (ENSO and SA Weather Services seasonal outlook) into our water management decision-making processes

At Matla and Belfast, we use reverse osmosis to treat excess process water to potable standards and treat sewage effluent in two plants before it is discharged into the environment.

Cennergi’s windfarms use licensed boreholes and rainwater. Employees and contractors drink bottled water at the operations.

The facility site manager supported by the head: corporate and social responsibility oversee policy implementation and practice at wind energy facilities.

Tailings storage facilities and dams

Our tailings management system focuses on operation, monitoring and decommissioning of tailings dams. It uses comprehensive riskbased management and governance systems in line with internationally recognised good practice. Exxaro aims to align tailings management with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management.

Our dam assets contain clean or polluted water. According to South African dam safety legislation, dams with a wall height exceeding 5m and capacity exceeding 50 000m³ are considered a safety risk. Classified dams are categorised as I, II or III according to risk potential. Category III has the highest hazard potential. The table below shows dams with a safety risk, as classified by DWS.

Our performance

Total water consumption (water withdrawals less water discharged) decreased by 28.7%. These improvements are mainly due to lower water abstraction from the Mokolo Dam at our Grootegeluk operation as we increased recycling of water from the pit. The newly constructed reverse osmosis plant at our Belfast operation also allowed much of the water abstracted from the pits to be returned to the catchment as an offset.

Our water intensity targets align with industry norms and site-specific conditions. The 180L/t RoM target is well below the coal industry average of 380L/t RoM. This supports our strategy to reduce water intake and support the DWS’s objectives to increase water conservation and reclamation. Our water intensity improved by 30% to 105L/t RoM due to factors mentioned above.

Our water recycling target of 38% overall water recycling ratio (defined as the total water recycled divided by total water used including recycled water) is substantially higher than the coal industry average of 6%, as outlined in the national water use efficiency benchmarks of the DWS. In 2023, we exceeded our performance from 2022 by 18.6% with an overall recycling ratio of 56%.

Internal water pricing

Exxaro embraced the internal water pricing strategy as a planning tool by setting a shadow price, where a price is used during discussions and evaluations of water-related business decisions. The shadow pricing is based on the minimum cost of producing water from alternative sources such as reverse osmosis. This shadow price is further adjusted by evaluating current and future water risks using the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas for the regions under consideration to identify the true cost of water for a location. The Aqueduct Water Risk score is a combined score comprising physical, chemical and regulatory risks.

Belfast water treatment plant

Belfast implemented a reverse osmosis water treatment plant to alleviate hydraulic load in the mine reticulation system by removing excess water, treating it, and returning it to the watershed. Higher than normal rainfall over the preceding three-year period placed the storage facilities under pressure as the mine could not use all of this water on site.

The treatment plant allowed the site to reduce its water intensity by 80%. It also ensured that any risk of storage facility spillage into the natural environment was negated.

Grootegeluk Oliphantskop Dam lining

The lining of the Oliphantskop Dam will enable enhanced water recycling at the beneficiation plants to prevent process water losses to the pit, reducing electricity consumption due to pumping and water quality deterioration in the pit.