Strategically leveraging our intellectual capital enables us to respond to a changing context and build a future-ready, resilient business.
Exxaro's intellectual capital is the unique combination of knowledge, experience, innovation and systems that differentiate us. We leverage these elements to respond to market challenges and position our business for the future.
Our operations must be able to overcome frequent challenges and adapt to changes in global and local markets. We use our intellectual capital and differentiation to ensure we remain sustainable, growth-oriented and values-driven into the future. We are focused on driving and leveraging changes to patterns of production, consumption and ways of working to positively impact our business's value and sustainability. We apply our collective knowledge, skills and resources to ensure we are responsive while safeguarding our people, assets and the business.
Material theme |
Matters |
Strategies to achieve our objectives | Related strategic objective |
Our broader impact |
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 Executing our strategy |
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 Driving business resilience |
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Capital allocation and energy investments
Sustained business resilience through strategic capital allocation. Advanced renewable energy with the LSP under construction and progress towards 1.6GW net installed capacity by 2030, supporting long-term value creation
Cybersecurity and operational resilience
Strengthened cybersecurity by enhancing backup strategies to improve incident response and implementing proactive measures to address emerging risks, including AI-driven threats. Evolved cybersecurity awareness and data governance to safeguard operations and maintain stakeholder trust
Driving innovation and information management
Launched our first generative AI solution and developed a comprehensive AI policy and roadmap to guide our future advancements. To ensure responsible data usage while maximising value from digital innovations, we are implementing robust data leak protection measures. Additionally, we insourced our analytics and data capabilities, safeguarding data as one of our most strategic assets
Exxaro's business resilience encompasses capital allocation, energy investments, innovation and information management, and reputational resilience (creating stakeholder value).
We are future proofing Exxaro through strategic capital allocation, decarbonisation efforts, and innovation-driven growth to deliver long-term value and portfolio diversification.
We will concentrate our capital allocation and project execution on leveraging our existing growth investments, delivering on our early value strategy and market to resource optimisation initiatives, and supporting our business through sustaining capital projects.
We are exploring new markets that align with our investment criteria, targeting energy assets that enable the transition to a low-carbon world.
Our iNNOVAXXION strategy will drive operational optimisation and innovation through AI, automation, and data-driven decision making. Strengthened cybersecurity and data governance will safeguard our digital transformation and enhance resilience as we embrace emerging technologies.
| Project | Classification (growth/sustaining) |
Product | Focus and performance | Capital expenditure |
Location: Mpumalanga |
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| The infrastructure projects at Matla, to achieve a 10Mtpa production objective once fully ramped up, were approved. | ||||
| Matla LoM programme | Sustaining |
10.066Mtpa of thermal coal | Developing infrastructure to support LoM production | R5.236 billion |
The Matla Mine 1 relocation incline conveyor was successfully commissioned in the second half of 2024, with first coal running through the silo onto the sacrificial conveyor. The Plant is scheduled for completion during the first half of 2026. The expected completion date of the Matla LoM programme remains the first half of 2026.
We focus on sustaining a robust coal portfolio with strong cash flow generation through the capital excellence journey, supported by our early value strategy. This involves evaluating and optimising our portfolio, disposing of non-core assets where needed, and investing in our coal business to remain resilient. We are targeting average capital of between R2.5 billion and R3 billion annually in real terms.
Coal sales by product tonnes (%)
| 2025 guidance |
2024 actual |
2024 previous guidance |
2023 actual |
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| Sustaining | 2 251 | 2 080 | 2 175 | 2 433 | |
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| Waterberg | 1 917 | 1 812 | 1 904 | 2 217 | |
| Mpumalanga | 334 | 268 | 271 | 201 | |
| Other | 15 | ||||
| Total | 2 251 | 2 080 | 2 175 | 2 433 |
Capital expenditure in our coal business decreased by 15% compared to 2023, reflecting investment in sustaining our operations, which remains within our capital guidance.
The decrease in sustaining capital is mainly due to lower spend at Grootegeluk based on optimised reviews, ensuring we invest in appropriate assets through our improved project execution and savings.
Supply chain and logistics challenges
The South African logistics environment remains challenging due to rail performance instability. We respond to this by using our intellectual capital to develop new innovative logistics solutions and corridors to ensure we are on a more sustainable strategic path. We successfully exported via alternative ports and continue to investigate solutions that will optimise our value chain from our mines to alternative posts, including our road and rail flows.
Exxaro is targeting a total of 1.6GW (net) installed capacity by 2030, with the funding requirements being majority project financed. Based on high–level assumptions, this could potentially provide a forecast estimated EBITDA of approximately R4.9 billion. We are aiming to achieve equity returns on a portfolio basis of 15% over time.
Construction of the LSP is under way to be completed by mid-2025. The project total investment cost is R1.56 billion.
Exxaro's iNNOVAXXION strategy plays a pivotal role in driving our Sustainable Growth and Impact strategy with focus on optimising value creation from our coal business using digital innovation, while diversifying towards energy transition minerals and growing our energy solutions business. Our innovation and technology journey supports our goal to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Our innovation approach
Our approach to innovation is underpinned by our innovation management programme, which systematically integrates innovation into our entire business value chain. The programme includes operations, marketing and logistics, corporate innovation and embracing disruptive innovation through data science and generative AI. The innovation programme builds future in-house capabilities and measures to enable Exxaro's strategic objectives.
Technology-driven innovation and sustainability
Exxaro is dedicated to advancing technological and social innovation beyond traditional mining practices. Implementing innovative mining and processing technologies ensures that investing in energy transition minerals is financially viable and that we remain on the lowest cost curve when new operations are introduced. Beyond economic considerations, we leverage innovation to create positive social impact.
Technology and innovation are critical to achieve operational effectiveness, enable our strategy and achieve our goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. By utilising technology, we ensure our operations go beyond compliance, measuring and enhancing our social and environmental impact. This includes deploying innovative digital solutions to strengthen Exxaro's contribution to the energy transition and align with global sustainability goals.
Through our iNNOVAXXION strategy, we enabled value-driven intelligent integration of our value chain to deliver optimisation of our operations and implemented several initiatives. These include enhancing technology-enabled integrated operating centres, visualising our value chain and deploying predictive analytics. Integrated operation centres facilitate seamless decision making, optimising resource utilisation and minimising environmental impacts. The integration of advanced data analytics and automation will enable us to achieve our optimisation strategies as well as fast track progress towards reducing climate-related risks, thus reinforcing Exxaro's commitment to sustainable practices.
We remain focused on deploying technology and innovative solutions to ensure we remain competitive. Through developments in generative AI, we will continue to explore opportunities to automate certain processes, guided by our new AI policy and roadmap.
Culture of innovation
We empower our people to create impact by fostering an innovation culture. This is integral to how we conduct business, ensuring our sustained success in a constantly evolving landscape. We continue to foster and support a deep-rooted culture of innovation understanding that we interact with innovation daily in different ways.
At Exxaro, we are passionate about creating a positive socio-economic impact in the communities where we operate. This passion motivates us to integrate social innovation into how we address community challenges. We aim not only to be a modern mining company but also a socially innovative and responsible one. Empowering people through innovative initiatives ensures that Exxaro's growth contributes to the overall development and wellbeing of the economies in which we operate.
Cybersecurity
The need for our mining operations to become more digitised and interconnected has amplified our vulnerability to cyberattacks.
Additionally, data has become a critical business asset; therefore, it is imperative that it is appropriately governed and protected. To this end, we have taken the following steps to enhance our cybersecurity response capabilities to ensure we remain resilient and sustainable while pursuing our digitalisation and innovation ambitions:
Showcasing innovation in action
In 2024 Exxaro launched a generative AI solution, called XXoro. The solution streamlines access to essential information, providing simplified explanations of complex safety and people and performance policies in English, Xhosa, Sepedi and Zulu.
XXoro was rolled out in support of our strategic goals and drive to prioritise safety and place people at the centre of our innovation efforts. By providing access to critical people and performance policies, and safety information, XXoro ensures that employees can easily understand essential content, fostering a safer and more productive workforce. The solution's data analytics capabilities further support our ESG strategy by identifying areas requiring additional training and delivering actionable insights that enhance decision making for organisational development.
This integration of digital innovation with our commitment to safety, sustainability and technological advancement reinforces our dedication to creating a secure, empowered and future-ready workforce. Leveraging our innovation methodology, we continue to progress our iNNOVAXXION strategy, integrating cutting-edge solutions that deliver sustainable competitive advantage and performance improvements.
IR