our approach to creating value
Our business strategy

A critical focus for our business is people

Our vision is to be the world's best platinum producing company, delivering superior returns to stakeholders relative to our peers. To achieve this vision, the Group focuses on four strategic pillars: Behaviour, Excellence, Sustainability, Together. These have been determined in response to the material risks that impact our ability to create value. In this report we address our strategic objectives relating to Behaviour, Sustainability and Together, while Excellence is detailed in the integrated report. The following focus areas underpin our Group strategy, and are reflected in our strategic objectives.

The four pillars

Strategic objective 1:

Behaviour – Safe and effective people

Our ability to secure an effective employer/employee relationship is vital in the present labour climate and going forward. We will focus on developing our employee value proposition so that employees' personal goals and aspirations are aligned to the objectives and deliverables of the organisation. We will ensure that our employee housing, skills development, health and reward programmes contribute to these goals.

We will strive to institutionalise a more open, democratic and transparent industrial relations climate through our cultural change management process introduced in 2013. We aspire to achieve a common vision and value system advanced and owned by our people together with the executive and the board.

Given the nature of our business, ensuring the safety and well-being of our workforce is critical to our ability to create value as it impacts productivity, and ultimately affects the long-term sustainability of the business. Our strategy focuses on promoting the right behaviour, ensuring the right practices, and providing the right working environment.

Key material issues will cover employee relations, health, safety, skills development and diversity.

Strategic objective 2:

Excellence – Delivering operational excellence and continuous improvement

To sustain our business we need to ensure an effective mineral resources management system, coupled with a strong drive to manage costs and enhance productivity. Delivering consistent returns through optimised operations, focused on increased mine volumes and grade quality, is essential to reward our stakeholders and ensure their continued support. Ensuring profitability allows us to reinvest in our human resources, motivate our staff and continue to contribute towards developing sustainable communities in our areas of operation.

Strategic objective 3:

Sustainability – Conserving natural resources and mitigating impacts of our operations

The Group creates value primarily by extracting and refining PGMs. Without access to these natural minerals we have no business. To support our extraction and processing of these resources we rely on access to land, water and energy – all of which have a material impact on the environment and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that the supply of these resources is likely to be constrained going into the future, resulting in increased costs of doing business, and greater efforts required to address impacts on communities.

We continue to address security of supply through recycling, reuse and reduction of use initiatives, as well as actively seeking to minimise impacts, mitigate risks, minimise the cost of doing business and address community sustainability in our areas of operation.

Key indicators that will be covered are water, energy, emissions, waste and land management.

Strategic objective 4:

Together – Social capital and licence to operate

The viability of our business is dependent on us making a meaningful contribution to the societies in which we operate, by implementing projects that have a positive impact on our communities. Respect for human rights and the interests of our stakeholders and abiding by relevant laws and regulations, are critically important. Our strategic approach in investing in socio-economic development is premised on the belief that the long-term viability of our business is closely linked to the success and well-being of the communities in which we operate and the areas from which a significant portion of our employees emanate. Securing the trust and endorsement of these communities and their political representatives is essential to maintaining our licence to operate. Our commitment to improving the living conditions of our employees through access to housing, provides an opportunity for differentiation and competitive advantage. It represents a strong business/employee linkage and serves as the cornerstone of other pillars of our broader transformation strategy such as skills development and retention, local procurement and enterprise development. We are committed to meeting the transformational objectives of the countries of operation through the empowerment of historically disadvantaged South Africans and the indigenous people of Zimbabwe.

Key aspects covered are socio-economic development, housing, procurement, enterprise development and community development.

These four pillars of our strategy are addressed in this report and in our 2014 integrated report. This report covers those sites in which we have a majority stake, and excludes Two Rivers. The operational specific performance for each of the material indicators is outlined in the operational review of each site in the integrated report.

All material aspects identified above are material to all sites with the exception of the South African mining charter indicators.