Caledonia Mining Corporation plc

ESG

Developing a sustainable business

Our approach to ESG management

Caledonia aims to maintain sustainable business practices and recognises the importance of integrating environmental, social and governance management into our overall corporate strategy.

Our commitment to sustainable development requires us to balance our short and long-term interests and to integrate economic, health, safety, security, environmental and social considerations into business decisions. We take every reasonable precaution to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all employees.

We recognise the increasing expectations of our stakeholders – from investors to the communities where we operate – to understand our business, its impacts, and the creation of long-term value. Therefore, strong, open, respectful and constructive stakeholder engagement is vital to the long-term sustainability of Caledonia and its operations. 

Our ESG strategy is based on the following five pillars: 

  • Corporate governance and ethics;
  • Health and safety;
  • Our people;
  • Our communities and society; and
  • Environment.

Each pillar is then subdivided into significant topics. This allows us to focus our efforts and our ESG reporting on the issues that are considered most important or relevant to stakeholders, as well as those which have the greatest potential or current effect on the business, our strategy and our capacity to create value over time. More details and our progress to date can be found in our latest ESG report; available here.

Our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) were adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. 

We have selected specific SDGs to focus on as part of our ESG strategy development; these are based on our most significant topics and represent the areas in which we expect to make the greatest contribution and impact:

Health & Wellbeing

We are committed to achieving a zero-harm working environment and aim to safeguard and improve the health of our employees and their dependents. Safety remains our top priority in everything we do, including a mandatory safety programme for all staff. Our focus on health and safety extends beyond Blanket into our community health programme that has invested USD$130,370 in the Gwanda region in 2022.

Quality Education

As one of our key CSR pillars, we aim to contribute to the enhancement of education in our local communities hence, Caledonia has invested US$416,308 in 2022 for education-focussed community programmes and supports our employees by providing school fees assistance for primary and high school, as well as university scholarships. 

Water & Sanitation

We consider access to clean water and sanitation basic human rights and provide this to all our employees and their dependents who live at the Blanket Village. We also engage with our local community to improve water provision and sanitation. Initiatives include drilling boreholes and constructing toilets in schools across the community.

Work & Growth

We can positively affect our local communities by fostering social and economic development and we aim to maximise these benefits wherever possible. Blanket is situated in an area of limited employment opportunities and the jobs and community support we provide are an important contributor to the quality of life of those around the mine.   100% of our employees at Blanket are from Zimbabwe, as well as 53.7% of our suppliers. We also contribute to the development of the wider Zimbabwean economy through the transparent payment of taxes and royalties, paying US$19.2 million in taxes in 2022.

Reduced Inequalities

A key pillar of our CSR programme relates to the empowerment of women and youth, achieved predominately through a focus on education and training where females and young people are given equal opportunities. 39% of our tertiary students are female, as we endeavour to increase access to opportunities in our workforce. As part of our strategy to empower young adults, we purchased IT equipment to enhance computer science training at the Enqameni Youth Reflection Centre.

Climate Action

Our operations are energy-intensive, and we attempt to achieve efficiencies and reduce emissions wherever possible. The construction of a 12.2 MWac solar plant at Blanket has reduced the operation’s dependence on grid and diesel generator power, providing approximately a quarter of Blanket’s daily electricity.