Anvil Mining is about to become one of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s leading copper producers. A defining characteristic of the company’s presence in the DRC is the degree to which it is taking a leading role with a carefully crafted corporate social responsibility strategy. President and CEO Bill Turner talks to Jayne Flannery.
When considering a good place to do business, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not a country that springs instantly to mind. Wracked by civil war, ethnic conflict and political instability, the country witnessed its annual output of high grade copper plummet from half a million tonnes in the early 1990s to less than 50,000 tonnes by the turn of the millennium.
Anvil Mining was one of the first mining companies to establish an operating presence in the DRC in 2002, just as South Africa was brokering the formation of a transitional government as a prelude to the country’s first democratic election in 2006. The company has since proved the potential to establish successful mining operations in the DRC’s Katanga Province and will soon commission its largest mine development yet, when the Kinsevere Stage II project becomes operational early next year.
Along the way, Anvil has also pioneered a new and progressive approach to combining economic and social development within the industry, which has resulted in a blueprint for maximising local employment and local sustainable benefits from mineral production.
“As a foreign mining company, we have always felt strongly that we should work to create a legacy of lasting significance. We are conscious that we are essentially a visitor in someone else’s country and if we are to operate effectively and safely and have a social impact of lasting significance, we need to understand the issues faced by local people,” states Bill Turner, Anvil Mining’s president and CEO.
Turner also points out that in terms of managing political risk, striving to be a good and responsible neighbour has an underlying value in safeguarding the company’s assets and employees, should unrest occur from time to time. In addition, a local community with clear channels for expressing their views to company management—regardless as to whether they are positive or negative—is an excellent early warning system, allowing corrective action to be taken when needed.
Turner believes the company learned its most valuable lessons in the DRC during its early years. Anvil’s first operations were centered on the Dikulushi Mine, a remote outpost to the west of Lake Mweru, which began production late in 2002. “From the outset, we returned ten per cent of the economic benefit directly to the local community, investing in projects and areas that the local people themselves told us mattered most to them. We went on to build nine schools, refurbish two hospitals, install more than 70 water wells and build several markets, along with a lot of other infrastructure improvements.”
In 2005, Anvil secured the support of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which is part of the World Bank, with political risk insurance cover for the Dikulushi Mine. A condition of MIGA’s involvement included a requirement that Anvil partner with a credible international NGO to assist with the design and implementation of the company’s social programmes. As a result, Anvil partnered with the Washington-based NGO, PACT Inc. “PACT helped us to understand how to connect much more effectively with local people and see development more holistically. The core competence of most company employees was initially of a technical nature; so building roads and bridges and schools was relatively easy. What we did not understand so well in the beginning was how to engage effectively with the local community and appreciate social needs. Above all, the partnership with PACT showed us how to reach out to local people and enabled us to adopt a much more proactive and engaging role in community development.”
For example, Turner feels that supporting local women to develop literacy skills was one of the most valuable softer initiatives that Anvil became involved in. “It was not just about learning to read, but about creating a conduit for greatly improved self-esteem. I found it a very moving experience to witness a group of Swahili speaking adult women at one of the schools we had built, actually reading from a book in Swahili for the first time in their lives.”
Because of dramatically falling copper prices in late 2008, and the onset of the global financial crisis, Dikulushi was de-commissioned in late 2008; and Turner is now applying the lessons learned there to the company’s next, much larger project. The Kinsevere Stage II project is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2011. The deposit has known reserves of 20.8 million tonnes of ore and a future operational life of at least 14 years. The project will feature a state-of-the-art $400 million solvent extraction and electro-winning (SXEW) processing plant, which will produce 60,000 tonnes per year of cathode copper. The project represents Anvil's most ambitious investment in the DRC to date and will massively boost current processing capability, which stands at approximately 15,000 tonnes per annum of copper in concentrate form from a relatively small heavy media separation (HMS) plant.
During the present construction phase for Kinsevere Stage II, over 1,100 construction personnel are employed. This will drop to approximately 350 once the mine is commissioned and the nature of expertise that is required changes from construction to operating personnel. At steady state, approximately 90 per cent of Anvil's employees will be DRC nationals, but research shows that there is a strong multiplier effect on employment generally within the local economy as other sectors are indirectly stimulated. Moreover, locally based engineering, construction and service companies including MCK, Safricas and CCC have played an important role in developing new projects alongside Anvil. These relationships are likely to strengthen as local service sector capabilities improve.
“We recognise the impact that sheer lack of opportunity has had on people’s lives in the DRC and we see a clear role for our company in engaging with and helping people to realise their full potential,” says Turner. “A fascinating element of our training work is seeing how quickly it is possible to build a skill base with people with very limited previous exposure to mining technology.”
Key technical roles are generally filled by expatriate workers, but Turner stresses that all expatriates are given a clear training role. “Many people have been with us for a number of years now and we have many examples of Congolese nationals who have had excellent career progression. The complex and demanding level of technical proficiency we require in employees to manage the hard disciplines (engineering, metallurgy, geology) is a longer-term challenge, but we are making significant progress. There is a lot of scope in what I term the softer disciplines, such as administration, human resources, finance, government relations and social development. The top positions in these disciplines are almost always filled by Congolese nationals.”
The mining sector in Katanga is widely recognised as being crucial to the future economic development of the country, and Turner is happy that Anvil has created a clear and coherent role within this process. “We believe the DRC still has a huge distance to travel to realise the full potential of its tremendous resource endowment, but a terrific start has been made.
“It is a privilege to be a participant in the redevelopment of the country’s copper mining industry and I believe our approach of respect for local customs, our focus on social development issues and willingness to learn as well as share our knowledge will continue to create a durable legacy for the Congolese people.” http://www.anvilmining.com/
