About

Living the Implats Way

Our purpose is to create a better future. We accomplish this through the metals we produce, the way we do business and through our superior performance.

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Operations

Diverse geological settings

Implats has the advantage of geographical diversification and exploits platiniferous horizons within the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe and the palladium-dominant orebody located in the Lac des Iles Intrusive Complex in Canada. The Bushveld Complex and Great Dyke layered intrusions are unique in terms of size and geological continuity.

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Investors

Harnessing PGMs for fuel cell technology

Decarbonisation is an urgent global challenge. There are increasing opportunities to use platinum-catalysed fuel cells to provide zero-emitting, carbon-free energy, in electricity and mobile applications.

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Media

Industry leading accommodation programme

Employee accommodation and living conditions remain key strategic issues for improving the wellbeing of our employees and host communities in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Our focus remains on facilitating the creation of sustainable human settlements and access to decent accommodation for employees who are residing in informal structures.

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Sustainability

Resilience to climate change

The increasing evidence globally of physical climate impacts – wildfires, floods, rising temperatures – is driving a greater sense of urgency in building adaptive capacity and resilience to climate.

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Careers

We set each other up for success


Links

2024 ESG Report

The purpose of this report is to provide all our stakeholders with a transparent account of how we interfaced with society and the environment, and contributed to economic activities during the financial year, as we delivered on our purpose: to create a better future.

Read our latest ESG Report

Sustainable Development Policy

Implats is committed to sustainable development principles such that the Company’s business investments are commercially sound and financially profitable; our practices are technically appropriate and socially responsible; and our processes and practices are inherently safe and environmentally sound.

Download our Sustainable Development Policy

Sustainability in data – FY2024

Environment

Reducing our environmental footprint

Our environmental policy commits the Group to responsible stewardship of our natural resources and to mitigating the environmental impacts of our activities

Key outcomes in 2024:

0 significant or major (level 4 or level 5) environmental incidents (2023: 0)

55% water recycled or re-used (2023: 52%) of total water used against a Group target of 54% in 2024

356 406t reduction in direct and indirect carbon emissions from reduction initiatives (2023:127 000)

37% renewable electricity consumed (2023:30)

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Climate change

Inclusive climate action

Our decarbonisation and energy security policy statement outlines our commitments to adopting renewable and low-carbon energy sources and transparently communicating the potential impacts of climate change on our business.

Performance against key indicators:

  • Energy from natural gas, petrol, diesel, propane, IBO and other was 9% of total energy (FY2023: 10%)
  • Reduction in scope 1 (direct) and scope 2 (indirect) emissions due to energy efficiency initiatives and renewable electricity usage was 356 406tCO2e (FY2023: 127 000tCO2e) or 8% of total (combined scope 1 and scope 2) emissions (2023: 3%)
  • Energy intensity: 0.783GJ/tonne milled (FY2023: 0.835GJ/tonne milled)
  • 33 341Ml of water recycled/re-used in water-stressed catchments (FY2023: 19 758Ml)
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Our sustainability journey (2004 - 2024)

Use the slider or click the years below for more information.

2004

2004

  • Established a Group social, ethics and transformation committee
  • Issued first corporate social investment report
  • Admitted to the JSE Limited's Socially Responsible Investing Index (SRI)
  • First ISO certification against ISO 14001 environmental certification

Our contributions to the United Nations SDGs

Our activities and initiatives contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have identified 14 SDGs to which we have direct social and environmental impact. These SDGs underpin our goal to create long-term value and inform our short to medium-term strategy. The Group's contributions to the goals are disclosed in various sections of our latest ESG report.

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No poverty

We contribute to poverty alleviation by:

  • Providing direct and enabling downstream, indirect employment opportunities
  • Preferential procurement, which focuses on supporting and sourcing goods and services from mine community businesses
  • Providing infrastructure in host communities
  • Paying taxes and royalties to the state
  • Offering skills training, school support, entrepreneurship initiatives and social welfare programmes that improve economic outcomes, employment prospects and general health.
Zero hunger

We contribute to zero hunger by:

  • Providing employment opportunities and ensuring employees earn a fair wage, significantly above the minimum wage
  • Supporting local communities to access water for irrigation, seeds for subsistence farming, and training in agriculture and animal husbandry
  • Working with social partners and governments to deliver food programmes and disaster relief efforts
  • Preserving land, water and grazing resources necessary for agriculture, ensuring long-term food security.
Good health and wellbeing

We play a crucial role in contributing to good health and wellbeing by:

  • Providing medical services including established HIV and TB programmes, to our employees and communities
  • Building clinics and hospitals in our communities
  • Undertaking community wellness initiatives to improve community access to health and welfare services, potable water and food security programmes
  • Providing gender-based violence, policing and emergency services support to our communities.
Quality education

We contribute to quality education by:

  • Offering bursaries, learnerships, internships, mentorships and skills development programmes
  • Training our employees and contractors
  • Infrastructure development initiatives (building and renovating schools and allied facilities) to ensure students have access to safe and conducive learning environments
  • Offering training workshops, resources and incentives for teachers to improve their skills and stay motivated.
Gender equality

We promote gender equality by:

  • Gender mainstreaming, diversity, management development and succession planning
  • Participating in industry initiatives such as women-in-mining forums
  • Setting targets for female representation in the Group
  • Promoting gender safety with zero tolerance for harassment, bullying and victimisation
  • Offering a fair pay policy to promote equality.
Clean water and sanitation

We have implemented various measures to ensure access to clean water and proper sanitation for employees and local communities by:

  • Implementing water management systems to minimise freshwater withdrawals
  • Investing in technologies and infrastructure to recycle and reuse water, reducing our overall water footprint
  • Assisting community access to water
  • Promoting safe hygiene and sanitation practices.
Clean and affordable energy

We promote clean and affordable energy solutions in our operations by:

  • Procuring and investing in solar PV and other renewable energy sources to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based energy sources and lower our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
  • Implementing energy efficiency programmes to reduce GHG emissions
  • Partnering with local organisations to implement sustainable energy projects, where appropriate
  • Participating in industry forums to improve energy utilisation and advocate for clean energy policies.
Decent work and economic growth

We promote decent work and economic growth by:

  • Creating employment opportunities
  • Providing a fair wage, substantially above the minimum wage of our operating jurisdiction
  • Paying taxes and royalties to the state
  • Promoting enterprise and supplier development (ESD)
  • Promoting skills development
  • Providing our employees with opportunities to build wealth through our home ownership and employee share ownership schemes.
Industry, innovation and infrastructure

We enhance industry, innovation and infrastructure by:

  • Continuously investing in research and development to improve mining techniques, increase efficiencies, and reduce the environmental impact of operations
  • Partnering with industry peers, government and academic institutions to develop technologies that use our metals to create a better future
  • Implementing sustainable practices to minimise our environmental footprint, such as water and energy conservation, reclamation of mined areas, biodiversity programmes and responsible waste management.
Sustainable cities

We promote the goal of sustainable cities through:

  • Environmental protection initiatives that reduce our environmental impacts, such as adopting renewable energy sources, energy and water efficiency programmes, circular economy initiatives and biodiversity programmes
  • Active community engagement that promotes social and economic wellbeing
  • Providing integrated housing for our employees and communities, which incorporates energy-saving and environmentally friendly solutions.
Responsible consumption and production

We promote sustainable consumption and production through:

  • Responsible management and efficient use of natural resources
  • Reducing our environmental footprint with responsible and sustainable consumption
  • Investing in technology and innovation
  • Protecting biodiversity
  • Adopting circular economy thinking
  • Reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
Climate action

We take specific measures to reduce our impact on the environment and combat climate change by:

  • Implementing sustainable mining practices
  • Reducing GHG emissions
  • Adopting renewable energy sources
  • Minimising water and waste pollution
  • Knowledge-sharing on climate risks and mitigations with stakeholders
  • Investing in the restoration and conservation of ecosystems.
Peace, justice and strong institutions

We promote peace, justice and strong institutions by:

  • Upholding and sharing our code of ethics with stakeholders
  • Increasing transparency of our business practices
  • Respecting human rights and the laws in our operating jurisdictions
  • Supporting and collaborating with industry partners, local governments, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to improve regulation of the mining industry.
Partnerships for the goals

We promote partnerships for the goals by:

  • Partnering with local and international organisations to advocate for policy and to enhance governance, transparency and accountability in the mining sector
  • Investing in capacity-building initiatives to strengthen local institutions and promote responsible mining practices.

Ethical production

Our initiatives to build a responsible mineral supply chain are driven by our values and purpose and supported by our code of ethics and the Group’s responsible sourcing of metals policy, which provides a robust framework to steer our counterparties in terms of our expectations. The Group has an established responsible sourcing committee, chaired by the Group executive: marketing and refining, to conduct the necessary due diligence on mineral suppliers. The committee sits quarterly and reports directly to the Group Exco.

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) greylisting of South Africa as a country with higher risk of money laundering and terrorism financing requires that we conduct advanced due diligence on our South African counterparties, including but not limited to, screening of the entity and its board members for reports of financial crimes, reviews of audited financial statements, tax clearance certificates and on-the-ground due diligence audits for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD ) Annex II risks.

In 2024, we continued to meet all the requirements of the London Platinum and Palladium Market’s (LPPM’s) Responsible Platinum and Palladium Guidance and retained LPPM certification. Our responsible sourcing policy, as well as our latest LPPM responsible platinum and palladium certificate, are available on our website . The responsible sourcing committee also carried out on-the-ground due diligence audits of counterparties supplying cobalt-bearing materials, in line with the Responsible Minerals Initiative Standard, to establish the potential existence of OECD Annex II risks in our supply chain (including threats of torture, child or forced labour, gross human rights abuses, fraudulent misrepresentation of the origin of minerals and money laundering). In parallel, an Exco-approved review was conducted of our responsible sourcing policy, to increase coverage beyond platinum and palladium supply chains and cover all the metals, including base metals, that we source and produce. Audits confirmed that there were no OECD Annex II risks in the Group’s supply chain and Implats became the first multi-metal producer to achieve certification under Responsible Minerals Assurance Process Standard for the responsible sourcing of its metals (PGMs, gold, silver, copper, nickel and cobalt).

Recognition for our sustainability performance

The excellent sustainable development and ESG practices at Implats continue to be recognised in several rankings by leading independent global and regional agencies.

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Support for the UNGC principles

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a voluntary global initiative that addresses issues related to human rights, labour, the environment and corruption through a commitment to 10 principles. The principles are derived from authoritative sources of international law, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the core declarations of the International Labour Organisation, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Implats became a signatory to the UNGC in July 2008. The following table provides a brief overview of how the Group has implemented the 10 principles.

Click the icons below for additional UNGC principles

Human rights

Principle 1

Businesses should support and respect the protection of international human rights within their sphere of influence.

  

Implats' human rights policy commits us to fully comply with applicable legislation in the regions in which we operate and implement the UNGC human rights principles. In addition, our harassment, bullying and victimisation policy ensures every individual, including those who have dealings with Implats, is treated with dignity and respect.

Employees are trained on human rights at induction and all contractors are expected to abide by our human rights policy and the laws of the countries in which we operate. Independently managed channels are available to anonymously report any unfair practices and human rights violations, including incidents of harassment, bullying and victimisation.

The Group’s responsible sourcing policy ensures our PGM concentrate suppliers do not infringe on human rights at their operations. We have conducted gap analyses of our security practices against the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights as part of an effort to ensure alignment.

Principle 2

Businesses should make sure their corporations are not complicit in human rights abuses.

  

We strive to uphold this principle through our Group-wide human rights policy and code of ethics, which are compatible with the applicable legislation in our operating jurisdictions.
Labour

Principle 3

Businesses should uphold freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

  

We recognise our employees’ right to collective bargaining and freedom of association, in line with relevant local labour legislation, and we foster open, honest and effective relations between management, employees and elected union representatives.

We monitor our operations’ labour relations, with monthly labour relations reports submitted to Exco and escalated to the board, when and if necessary.

Principle 4

Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour.

  

All our labour is sourced from the open labour market and all employees are provided with contracts in accordance with local labour legislation. They are free to resign at any time, in accordance with legal processes.

Principle 5

Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labour.

  

Implats does not make use of child labour at any of its operations and has not detected any significant risks pertaining to the use of child labour.

We monitor and ensure compliance with the labour legislation in the countries in which we operate.

Principle 6

Businesses should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

  

We strive to eliminate discrimination in all forms and promote employment equity, diversity and inclusion.

Our human resource policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion, fair pay, gender equality and harassment are available on our websites
Environment

Principle 7

Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.

  

Our environmental policy commits the Group to running our exploration, mining, processing and refining operations in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way, ensuring the wellbeing of our stakeholders.

We integrate environmental management into all aspects of the business, with the aim of achieving a sustainable and world-class environmental performance. This contribution is enhanced by the role PGMs play in transitioning to a greener economy.

Principle 8

Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

  

Initiatives aimed at promoting environmental responsibility include programmes relating to:

  • Optimising energy usage
  • Promoting sustainable water use
  • Reducing our atmospheric emissions
  • Responding to climate change risks and opportunities
  • Ensuring effective land management (including rehabilitation) and promoting biodiversity.
  • Adopting renewable energy
  • Minimising waste streams and managing tailings facilities
  • Reducing environmental impacts.

Principle 9

Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

  

Implats has invested in targeted fuel cell development in South Africa in collaboration with government and academic institutions to promote local technology development and develop local skills and fuel cell manufacturing and deployment.

The Group has a decarbonisation and energy strategy in place, the current focus of which is incorporating renewable energy into our energy mix. Our inaugural climate change report highlighting risks and opportunities related to climate change was published in this reporting period.
Anti-corruption

Principle 10

Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

  

Implats has zero tolerance towards bribery, fraud and corruption and requires employees, business partners, suppliers, contractors and associates to adhere to the Implats code of ethics and fraud policy.

The Group ethics policy outlines conflicts of interest, donations, gifts, and the protection of the Company’s information, intellectual property and patent rights, and is clear on the disciplinary action (including dismissal or prosecution) that will be taken in the event of any contravention.

An independently managed, toll-free whistleblowing hotline is in place to facilitate the confidential reporting of suspected fraud, corruption and related misconduct.