Supporting our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic

We know we can make the biggest difference by working together with our communities and during COVID-19 we have provided support where and when it was needed most. 
 
Our response to COVID-19 is built around three areas – keeping our people safe and well, maintaining safe and reliable operations, and supporting our communities. 

As COVID-19 began to spread rapidly around the world, we immediately established a COVID-19 Community Investment Fund, with the intent to contribute US$7 million to the areas that need it most. We developed a regional response approach with our operations in Africa, Australia and the Americas, using a four-stage framework: 

• Prevention: Creating awareness and supporting the prevention of an outbreak of COVID-19 in local communities and workforce to prevent transmission between people;
• Preparedness: Identifying what needs to be done to respond effectively, and to support local authorities in preparing for an outbreak in communities including capacity and capability building; 
• Response: Supporting efforts to respond effectively to an outbreak in local communities; and 
• Recovery: Strengthening health systems and socio-economic resilience of communities to rebuild and respond to similar outbreaks in the future.

As part of our investment commitment we:

• Donated R10.5 million to the South Africa Solidarity Fund and pledged R50 million to help the local communities surrounding our South African operations;  
• Donated A$1 million to support the local communities surrounding our Australian operations, distributed between three organisations – The Royal Flying Doctor Service, Foodbank and Lifeline – to assist people living in regional and remote areas and provide mental health services and essential supplies; 
• Matched US$40,000 of employee contributions dollar-for-dollar to causes responding to COVID-19 in South Africa, Mozambique, Colombia, Australia, the United States and Singapore;
• $50,000 at our Hermosa Project through Local First Arizona to provide urgently needed financial relief to qualifying small businesses in Southern Arizona;
• Delivered hygiene products, personal protective equipment and water to our communities to enable safe hygiene behaviours;
• More than 100 villages in Africa have improved access to water and sanitation services;
• Collaborated with other industry players by leveraging resources and coordinating actions, including establishing testing and quarantine facilities; and
• Upgraded local health facilities, including: 
• Establishing a new medical clinic on Groote Eylandt in less than 5 weeks to manage impacts on local health services; and
• Renovating Matola health clinic in Mozambique to accommodate COVID-19 patients.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities on the response and recover phases to support the resilience of our local communities into the future.