NEWS
Exxaro ’ s move to renewable a sign of progress
Exxaro Resources chief executive , Mxolisi Mgojo , announced in February that his company will join a growing list of international miners divesting from thermal coal assets , reinforcing the global pressure for mining houses to reduce exposure to fossil fuels is gaining momentum .
He said that Exxaro , which exports coal as well as supplying it for domestic power generation , would continue to supply thermal coal to state-owned power utility Eskom ’ s Medupi and Matimba power stations through its coal contracts .
“ As we come to the the end of life of our other coal reserves , we will not be building any new ones ,” Mgojo said during a virtual panel at the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference .
While the announcement signals that the mining sector is responding to an increasingly diverse stakeholder base , the financial ecosystem is evolving in parallel . “ The move to divest from coal assets is a global trend to accommodate investors looking to decarbonise their holdings ,” says Jon Duncan , head of responsible investing at Old Mutual Investment Group .
“ While we cannot ignore the global context , which is material to the divestment from the likes of Exxaro and Anglo American , the reality is that locally , climate change – the effects of which can no longer be denied – risks accelerating a host of social challenges which threaten the country as a whole .
Increase in ESG investment “ More and more , investors are becoming acutely aware of this , which is why we are seeing an increase in environmental , social and governance ( ESG ) investing ,” says Duncan .
However , given that many investors are benchmark-cognisant in respect of financial returns , many investment managers , take a risk-managed approach to fossil fuel exposure and so don ’ t take a hard exclusion approach . “ We have not adopted a hard-exclusionary approach on primary fossil fuel producers at this stage as our approach is informed by a recognition of the Just Transition dimension of climate change and so are aligned with the idea of a decarbonisation pathway over time .
We support our commitment to this pathway through a pro-active approach to stewardship or active ownership on climate-related issues with clear escalation pathways in order to drive impactful change among our investee companies ,” he says .
Eurasian Resources takes action to support elimination of child labour in DRC
Eurasian Resources announced that it has submitted an Action Pledge to strengthen its commitment to eliminate child labour in the cobalt mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), where UNICEF has estimated that close to 40,000 children are engaged in mining activities .
The Action Pledge is administered by the International Labour Organisation and the Alliance 8.7 . The mechanism aims to accelerate efforts to eradicate child labour worldwide in support of the UN ’ s designation of 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour .
In terms of specific actions , ERG has said that it already has a targeted community investment strategy in partnership with the Kolwezi chapter of the Good Shepherd International Foundation ( GSIF ).
This strategy is focused on keeping 2000 children out of artisanal and small-scale mining in 2021 .
The Luxembourg-based miner also said that it is always implementing controls to ensure that its operations are in no way connected to child labour .
“ The elimination of child labour is crucial to the Group ’ s wider efforts to help ensure a safe and sustainable future for mining communities in the DRC ,” Benedikt Sobotka , CEO of Eurasian Resources , said in a media statement .
“ For 2021 , we have envisioned new steps to fight child labour in mining , including signing a new multi-year agreement with the GSIF to expand their support network to new communities in the DRC and developing initiatives like the Battery Passport from the GBA , which promises a fully traceable , ethical and sustainable battery supply chain ”.
Eurasian owns the Metalkol Roan Tailings Reclamation operation in the southern Kolwezi region in the DRC . RTR is a tailing reprocessing operation that aims to provide a long-term , stable supply of ‘ green ’, ethically-produced cobalt and copper to the market .
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