Sustainable gold – our report
The intention of this group-level report – Sustainable Gold – is to provide a concise and balanced account of AngloGold Ashanti’s sustainability performance in 2010. AngloGold Ashanti has reported on social investment and sustainability issues since 2002. In 2009 we reviewed our approach to sustainability reporting, taking into account leading international practice, and decided to move towards a more focused report, which clearly identifies the issues that are important in making our business viable over the longer term, and which most concern our stakeholders, social and business partners.
We are continually refining and improving our content selection process for reporting, taking into account the diversity in our portfolio of operations and the countries in which we do business. AngloGold Ashanti operates in 10 countries. The six focus areas that we have identified are challenges that are common to all operating regions, even though they manifest themselves in different ways in each region and require responses appropriate to local circumstances.
Our six focus areas for this 2010 report are:
- improving operational safety performance;
- managing health impacts that arise at our operations and in our communities;
- operating with respect for human rights;
- relationships with the communities which host our operations;
- exploration and closure, recognising and reporting explicitly on these two critical areas in the life cycle of our operations; and
- effective stewardship of the environment and of the natural resources that we use, primarily land, water and energy.
In this report we have tried to convey the context for each of these issues, and explain why it is relevant and how it can impact on our business and on our stakeholders, social and business partners. We describe the work that we have undertaken in managing each issue, the targets that we have set relating to our performance and our progress in meeting these targets.
Extensive web-based information supplements this report and ensures that we continue to report at an A+ level against the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 guidelines, as well as to comply with our obligations as a signatory of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and as a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM).
External assurance for this report is provided by Ernst & Young. The same company undertakes our financial audit. Our goal is the integrated presentation of financial and non-financial information and we intend to move towards an assurance process that supports this objective.
Our external assurance statement is made available with this report .