Water security is a critical component of our operational and environmental approach, given South Africa's water scarcity and the effects of climate change, particularly rising temperatures and rainfall variability. Through proactive risk identification and planning, we support communities, protect the environment from watershed risks and stabilise critical ecosystems.
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. Implementation of our approach is driven by:
Accountability and responsibility
Sustainable impact managers, supported by the corporate water team and on-site environmental specialists, led by the chief sustainability officer: sustainable impact, oversee policy implementation and practice at operations.
The facility site
manager supported by the head: corporate and social responsibility oversee
policy
implementation and practice at wind energy facilities.
Regulatory compliance
Our water management measures comply with relevant environmental legislation, particularly the NWA, the MPRDA, NEMA regulations and the National Water Resource Strategy. We comply with the conditions of our WULs and maintain the required records for compliance audits.
Beyond compliance
We align with voluntary water reporting standards and are working towards full alignment with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management. Through collaborative research with Coaltech and local universities, we support sustainable mine water management and mine closure practices.
We manage water-related risks and minimise environmental impacts through a comprehensive approach that includes water conservation, contamination prevention and advanced treatment processes. Our practices include:
Our policy guides our integrated water and waste management plan for the current and future operations – from planning to construction, operation, decommissioning, closure and rehabilitation. 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:
CENNERGI
Cennergi's windfarms use licensed boreholes and rainwater.
We monitor and report water performance in line with the CDP water programme. A centralised database supports disclosure by consolidating data, while our water accounting methodology measures volumes and quality against efficiency and intensity targets, water use permits and internal benchmarks.
Water consumption and intensity targets are integrated into our group-wide STI scheme, aligning with our Climate Change Response and Sustainable Growth and Impact strategies.
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.
Our tailings management system guides BUs on the operation, monitoring and decommissioning of tailings dams using a comprehensive, risk-based approach aligned with internationally recognised standards.
Under South African dam safety legislation, dams with a wall height over 5m and a capacity above 50 000m³ are deemed a safety risk and are classified by risk level: Category I, II, or III, with Category III indicating the highest hazard potential.
Our dams contain either clean or polluted water. The table below lists dams with safety risk classifications as defined by the DWS.
| Category I | Category II | |
| Matla | – | Brine ponds |
| Grootegeluk | – | Cyclic ponds |
| Leeuwpan | – | Witklip Dam |
| Durnacol Dam No 7 | ||
| Durnacol | Durnacol Dam No 4 | Langley Dam No 2 |
| Langley Dam No 3 | ||
| Tshikondeni | Unwa Dam | – |
How we performed
| Consumption (ML) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| Total water withdrawal | 10 342 | 8 744 | 11 486 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface water | 7 776 | 5 834 | 8 602 | |
| Groundwater | 1 149 | 1 487 | 1 408 | |
| Third-party water | 1 417 | 1 423 | 1 476 | |
| Total water discharged | (1 033) | (1 314) | (1 068) | |
| Surface water | (1 033) | (1 314) | (1 068) | |
| Total water consumption | 9 309 | 7 430 | 10 419 |
Total water consumption (water withdrawals less water discharged) increased by 25%. The deterioration was mainly attributed to lower recycling at our Grootegeluk operation due to flooding of the pit and other infrastructure.
| Recycling ratio (%) | Target | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| Grootegeluk | 51 | 57 | 47 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matla | 46 | 51 | 50 | ||
| Leeuwpan (estimated) | 30 | 30 | 30 | ||
| Belfast | 40 | 62 | 38 | ||
| Total group | 38 | 50 | 56 | 47 |
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 2024, we realised a lower performance from 2023 by 11% with an overall recycling ratio of 50% as we normalised the Belfast excess water by June with no further treatment in the second half of the year.
| Water intensity (L/t) | Water consumption (m3) | ||||||||
| Target (L/t) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||
| Mpumalanga | |||||||||
| Belfast | 210 | 143 | 54 | 232 | 560 024 | 170 324 | 612 115 | ||
| Leeuwpan | 55 | 36 | 29 | 40 | 138 221 | 140 051 | 148 466 | ||
| Matla | 260 | 169 | 206 | 200 | 991 015 | 1 235 167 | 1 231 293 | ||
| Limpopo | |||||||||
| Grootegeluk | 170 | 146 | 104 | 148 | 7 524 410 | 5 802 577 | 8 344 744 | ||
| Tshikondeni | 79 176kL | n/a | n/a | n/a | 83 736 | 71 295 | 74 532 | ||
| Gauteng | |||||||||
| FerroAlloys | 21 000kL | n/a | n/a | n/a | 10 567 | 9 841 | 7 205 | ||
| KwaZulu-Natal | |||||||||
| Hlobane | 432kL | n/a | n/a | n/a | 291 | 408 | 410 | ||
| Total group | 180 | 142RA | 105 | 150 | 9 308 265 | 7 429 662 | 10 418 765 | ||
| RA | Reasonable assurance provided. |
Our water intensity deteriorated by 35% to 142L/t RoM due to factors mentioned above. 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. We will further lower our target to 175L/t for 2025.
We finalised our water security study that outlines suitable mitigation measures to ensure resilience against the impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic effects. The study evaluated site-specific impacts on the availability of water, flooding, droughts, veld fires, heatwaves and deteriorating water quality of natural water systems at each BU. The proposed mitigation measures will be unpacked in 2025 to earmark potential projects that could enhance our business resilience, support communities, protect the environment, safeguard our employees and infrastructure, and promote technological advancement through innovative solutions.
|
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. Drier conditions in the second half of 2024 allowed Belfast to switch off the plant for maintenance and upgrade. This resulted in a lower return of water to the catchment, as an offset, that impacted the operation’s performance from 2023. Overall, the operation’s performance has markedly improved from 2022 and we could subsequently lower its target in 2024 by 16%. | |
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Grootegeluk recycling project |
The recycling project at Grootegeluk that consists of a desilting plant, upgraded channels and the already refurbished Oliphantskop Dam has progressed well and will enable enhanced water recycling at the beneficiation plants to prevent process water losses to the pit. | |
Our primary focus in 2025 will be:
IR