Kumba Iron Ore, a business unit of Anglo American welcomes the statement by the South African Minister of Mineral Resources on the progress of transformation in the mining industry in South Africa. Anglo American is committed to meeting South Africa’s transformation objectives and has been a longstanding and major contributor to the transformation of the mining industry.

Kumba continues to strive for meaningful and sustainable transformation. The company exceeded all Mining Charter targets in the 2014 reporting year including HDSA ownership requirements through Exxaro, the communities surrounding its operations and employees.

The Mining Charter is concerned not only with HDSA ownership, but various other aspects of broad-based socio-economic empowerment. Kumba is confident that it has met all targets and remains a committed contributor to broad based socio-economic empowerment across all the pillars of measurement.

Norman Mbazima, Chief Executive of Kumba, said: “We welcome the Minister’s collaborative approach and we look forward to the resolution of the difference of opinion relating to the ownership element of the Mining Charter. I am proud of the work that has been done to bring the Mining Charter to life at Kumba. We have exceeded the Charter targets in terms of ownership, preferential procurement, housing and human resource development elements. Whilst the Charter period of 10 years has come to an end, we remain committed to continuing to bring about meaningful change with regards to transformation within our business and, indeed, our country.”

Kumba will continue to engage with the government, Chamber of Mines and other stakeholders to ensure that together we help create a sustainable mining industry for South Africa.