Land use and biodiversity
MM1
The information below provides disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicator MM1: Amount of land (owned or leased, and managed for production activities or extractive use) disturbed or rehabilitated.
| Country | Total land managed | Total amount of land disturbed and not yet rehabilitated - opening balance | Total amount of land newly disturbed within the reporting year | Total amount of land newly rehabilitated within the reporting year to agreed upon end use | Total land disturbed and not yet rehabilitated - closing balance | Total amount of land rehabilitated to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 16,817 | 5,883 | - | 223 | 6,050 | 966 |
| Vaal River | 12,654 | 4,468 | - | 167 | 4,635 | 776 |
| West Wits | 4,163 | 1,415 | - | 56 | 1,415 | 190 |
| Continental Africa | 703,750 | 10,512 | 584 | 219 | 9,986 | 1,503 |
| Ghana | ||||||
| Iduapriem | - | 1,414 | 79 | 21 | 1,335 | 256 |
| Obuasi | 476,000 | 1,833 | 172 | 10 | 1,732 | 293 |
| Guinea | ||||||
| Siguiri | 159,233 | 1,736 | 119 | 27 | 1,335 | 150 |
| Mali | ||||||
| Sadiola | 18,700 | 1,538 | 114 | 27 | 1,626 | 63 |
| Yatela | 22,252 | 664 | 87 | 88 | 663 | 239 |
| Namibia | ||||||
| Navachab | 7,937 | 580 | 6 | - | 585 | 66 |
| Tanzania | ||||||
| Geita | 19,627 | 2,748 | 7 | 46 | 2,709 | 437 |
| Australasia | 69,304 | 1,939 | 26 | - | 1,965 | 638 |
| Australia | ||||||
| Sunrise Dam | 69,304 | 1,939 | 26 | - | 1,965 | 638 |
| Americas | 77,304 | 3,398 | 220 | 62 | 3,497 | 558 |
| Argentina | ||||||
| Cerro Vanguardia | 51,200 | 731 | 40 | 23 | 714 | 64 |
| Brazil | ||||||
| AGA Mineração | 21,142 | 506 | 24 | 16 | 513 | 303 |
| Serra Grande | 2,595 | 436 | 132 | 5 | 563 | 51 |
| USA | ||||||
| CC&V | 2,367 | 1,725 | 25 | 18 | 1,707 | 140 |
| Total | 867,175 | 21,732 | 831 | 504 | 21,498 | 3,665 |
EN11
The information below provides disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicator EN11: Location and size of land owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas.
| Continental Africa | |
|---|---|
| Ghana | |
| Iduapriem | Neung North Forest Reserve is located immediately adjacent to the southern boundary of the Iduapriem operational area. The total area under management at Iduapriem is 11,000ha. |
| Obuasi | 5.7ha are demarcated as forest reserve within the 670km2 Obuasi mine concession. |
| Tanzania | |
| Geita | The operation is located within 196km of the Geita forest reserve. |
| Australasia | |
| Australian region greenfield exploration | Some of the Western Australia tenements held by Australian region Greenfield exploration are located Greenfield exploration within “C” class reserves. The total area affected is 228,085ha. |
| Americas | |
| Brazil | |
| AGA Mineração | |
| RPPN Anglogold Cuiaba | Adjacent to the Cuiaba Mine. RPPN Mata Samuel Paula Within 5km of the Quieroz plant. |
| Córrego do Sítio | Within 1km of the Caraça national reserve. |
| Serra Grande | Within 5km of a declared national reserve of Cerrado ecosystem. |
This indicator is not applicable to the following operations as they are not located in or adjacent to protected areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas:
- Navachab in Namibia
- Sadiola and Yatela in Mali
- CC&V in the United States of America
- Siguiri in Guinea
- Sunrise Dam in Australia
- Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina
- Operations at West Wits and Vaal River in South Africa
EN12
The information below provides disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicator EN12: Description of significant impacts of activities, products and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas.
The table below shows the impacts on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value that were recorded in 2011. We currently do not have systems in place to report against the new mining and metals supplement requirements on this indicator. During 2012, however, we plan to improve reporting systems as we finalise and implement our group-wide biodiversity standard, in order to report more fully on this aspect.
In our current resettlement standard, we stipulate that biodiversity is one of many aspects considered in an environmental and social impact assessment prior to resettlement.
| Continental Africa | |
|---|---|
| Ghana | |
| Iduapriem | Low direct impact on water, air and visual aspects. |
| Obuasi | No significant impact. |
| Tanzania | |
| Geita | The operation is located within 196km of the Geita forest reserve. |
| Australasia | |
| Australian region | No significant impact. |
| Americas | |
| Brazil | |
| Córrego do Sítio | No direct impact. RPPN Mata Samuel Paula No direct impact. |
| RPPN Mata Samuel Paula | No direct impact. |
| RPPN Anglogold Cuiaba | Visual impact; no direct impact. |
| Serra Grande | Low direct impact, largely visual indirect impact |
This indicator is only applicable to the countries above.
MM2
MM2: The number/percentage of sites identified as requiring biodiversity management plans, according to stated criteria, and the number/percentage of sites with plans in place.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is considered as part of the ISO 14001 process, with the site’s significant environmental aspects being identified and management plans developed to address these. Through this process, locally, management plans to address both regulatory and interested and affected parties’ requirements.
AngloGold Ashanti is finalising a biodiversity management standard, based on ICMM's Good Practice Guidance on Mining and Biodiversity, and which has been subjected to internal and external peer review. The management standard will require each site to have a formal biodiversity action plan, prepared according to group-wide criteria.
With implementation of this standard, we will be reviewing biodiversity action plans in place at each operation. However, we do not currently have the systems in place to fully report against this indicator and anticipate that we will be able to do so from the 2012 financial year.