Economic impact

Our decade-long journey of growth and diversification has been associated with significant value creation for all stakeholders. From the outset, creating superior value for all stakeholders has been central to our business approach.

A closer look

Shared value

The impact that Sibanye-Stillwater has made – and the value we have created for all stakeholders during this journey – is evident when comparing the value we shared with stakeholders at inception in 2013 to that shared in 2022.

Notably, in addition to the significant capital growth in the business, we have distributed R41 billion (US$2.8 billion) in additional value in the form of dividends and share buybacks. This amount alone is four times greater than our initial market capitalisation on listing of R10 billion (US$1.2 billion).

The Group is a significant employer globally. In 2013, we employed 36,274 people, including contractors, in South Africa alone. By 2022 this increased by 133% to 84,481 worldwide, although the vast majority of our workforce continues to be in South Africa. In a country with extreme levels of unemployment and poverty, there is distinct value in giving people a dignified wage, a progressive career path, and an opportunity to engage in challenging and incentivised work as part of a team driven by purpose and values.

Salaries and benefits paid to employees and contractors have increased from R6 billion (US$0.6 billion) in 2013 to R26.5 billion (US$1.6 billion) in 2022, a more than four-fold increase. Employee and contractor benefits paid amount to R158 billion (US$11 billion) cumulatively over the past 10 years. In addition to these salaries and benefits, approximately R1.4 billion in the form of dividends and other employee share option scheme payments have been distributed among 46,000 employees over the last two years. Entry-level salaries at our SA gold operations have increased by over 105% since 2013, significantly ahead of inflation, contributing to a decent living wage and reducing wage disparity.

The value we have shared with our communities through socioeconomic development and corporate social investment (CSI) programmes has also increased significantly over the last 10 years, from just over R1 billion (US$109 million) in 2013 to over R2.3 billion (US$141 million) in 2022, a 120% increase. This translates to a 55% increase in real terms after accounting for inflation at CPI.

The cumulative value flow to communities over the last 10 years amounts to R13.9 billion (US$1 billion). We have recently gone beyond these investments by committing 1.5% of the equivalent value of dividends paid to shareholders to fund infrastructure development projects in our local communities.

Our economic contribution goes well beyond these investments though, with taxes and royalties paid to governments in the jurisdictions where we operate increasing from R554 million (US$58 million) in 2013 to around R17.9 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2021 and R10.7 billion (US$653 million) in 2022, almost a twentyfold increase. Cumulatively over the last 10 years, we have paid a total of R44 billion (US$3 billion) in taxes, representing a substantial contribution to the fiscus in jurisdictions where we conduct business.

Our quest to deliver superior shared value is informed by the codes, standards and frameworks that we subscribe to for responsible conduct of our business, including our commitment to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).

Procurement, enterprise and supplier development

Through the purchase of goods and services we have an opportunity to include marginalised people into the mainstream economy and to promote socioeconomic development.

In South Africa, Mining Charter III calls for the inclusion of HDPs (historically disadvantaged persons), women, and youth in the economy
through procurement. Mining Charter III targets for mining goods were achieved for the majority of our operations; while targets for services were not achieved, except for our Kroondal operation. Achieving these procurement targets is important for regulatory compliance and to give meaning to our ESG commitments. However, suppliers who fit the criteria are not always available. Through preferential procurement of services we have improved our HDP services supplied by black women and youth-owned companies from 43% (2021) to 48%.

In support of our strategy and objective at Sibanye-Stillwater, where we want to develop sustainable suppliers from within host communities, the following have been included into our supplier development programme

Dedicated support from the supplier development team and operations
Contract support including onboarding, and contract price adjustments
Business funding through the Sibanye-Stillwater CEO fund and the supply chain fund
Preferential payment terms for certain suppliers
Mentorship and coaching is available, if required

We have engaged two companies (Phakamani and Black Deal) to offer coaching in a range of areas including financial management, business acumen, business planning and proposal writing. They also provided a business accelerator programme (BAP) NQF level 2 training. 453 people from host communities participated in this training in 2022.

We executed two enterprise development initiatives in 2022.

The Start-up programme identifies 100 entrepreneurs within our host communities, who are then given an opportunity to present their business case, where the successful applicants will participate in the following

Mentorship programme
Practical skills development on technology
Business support grants
Opportunities to participate at Sibanye-Stillwater and other
external companies
Development of future plans and pipeline opportunities

Our CEO Enterprise Development Fund helps local entrepreneurs join our supply chain. The fund is mainly for SMMEs who need capital to purchase assets or goods to fulfil an order. The fund is capitalised to the value of R65.5 million.

Sustainable post-mining economies

Sibanye-Stillwater is committed to facilitating a just transition towards a post-mining economy for the communities where we operate. Our roadmap notes that the nature of these economies should be low carbon, climate resilient and digitally transformed. In this regard we have a number of sustainability projects at different stages of implementation, which are part of a broader thrust to surpass compliance requirements around social closure, and to help diversify the economies of mining towns.

Bokamoso Ba Rona Agri-Industrial Initiative

The Bokamoso Ba Rona Agri-Industrial Initiative, a pilot programme based on our social closure framework, is a large-scale agriculture and bio-energy project in the West Rand District Municipality, close to Sibanye-Stillwater’s mining operations. The initiative is based on a unique, collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to promoting economic activity in areas of the greater West Rand.

The initiative is designed to facilitate the emergence of a sustainable post-mining economy through the creation of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly in the agricultural and industrial sectors.

Partners in this initiative include the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency, the Far West Rand Dolomitic Water Association, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, the Merafong City Local Municipality and the Rand West City Local Municipality. The African Development Bank has provided the grant funding for further preparation of projects under the continental Staple Crop Processing Zone programme. This work will see the conclusion of developer and funder contracts to boost the local economy in agriculture. Some R6 million was secured from Nedbank and Sibanye-Stillwater, through its SLP commitments, has earmarked R19 million for the development of various agriculture initiatives as its contribution to diversifying the regional economy and helping establish a sustainable economic development trajectory.

Sibanye-Stillwater and the Far West Rand Dolomitic Water Association have contributed approximately 45,000ha of land to the initiative.

The aims of the Bokamoso Ba Rona initiative are to:

facilitate creation of a sustainable post-mining economy through the implementation of comprehensive sustainable local socio-economic development initiatives
promote employment by emphasising labour-intensive opportunities with a focus on agriculture
accelerate transformation by creating opportunities and providing ongoing development and training for local communities

The initiative is supported by the South African Public Investment Corporation.