Water is a strategic natural resource for South Africa and our business. We are committed to responsible and sustainable water use as enshrined in our water management policy that focuses on efficient water reuse and recycling. The policy aligns with the legislated environmental framework mainly governed by the National Water Act, 1998 (Act 36 of 1998), supported by the integrated water resource management hierarchy issued by the DWS to prioritise mine and waste management decisions and actions. The hierarchy informs our policy and strategy on mine and wastewater management by:

• Preventing pollution
• Minimising environmental impacts
• Maximising water reuse and reclamation
• Responsible water discharge and disposal
• Water treatment

We are committed to implementing this policy with a management standard on water for mining and industrial use. The standard articulates an effective integrated water and waste management plan across a mine’s lifecycle, including planning, construction, operation, decommissioning, closure and rehabilitation phases. The standard also reflects management’s vision to:

• Ensure a cost-effective integrated approach to water management
• Environmental responsibility
• Ecological sustainability

GROUP WATER STRATEGY

Our group water strategy was approved in 2017, aiming for excellence in:

• Compliance
• Operational water efficiency
• Policies, standards and processes
• Water technologies
• Stakeholder partnerships

A comprehensive programme entrenches responsible and sustainable water management throughout our BUs, concentrating on water use and related risks — from security of supply to water efficiency and cost management — in terms of current and anticipated regulatory compliance. We support the programme with research and skills development as well as water issues awareness through ongoing communication and training.

We manage water-related risks, minimise impacts and operate efficiently by reducing, reusing and recycling water in line with water conservation plans that support the national strategy. Equitable distribution of water resources considers business growth and sustainable consumption.

We are also committed to protecting and improving water quality by discharging water treated in our BUs through our reverse-osmosis water treatment plant at Matla. The plant has been operating since 2015 and can treat 10ML of water per day.

We continue collaborating with other mining houses and universities through the Coaltech research initiative in projects that provide guidelines on sustainable mine water management and mine closure. Our collaboration also affords accurate final land-use planning.

The Mine Water Coordinating Body, formed in 2017, further strengthens our public-private collaboration by providing a platform to align our mine water management plans with the National Water Resource Strategy and investigate regional solutions in the Olifants River catchment of Mpumalanga.

Water use

We refined our water intensity targets in 2020 and developed a new five-year target in line with industry norms and site-specific conditions. We lowered our previous aggregated target of 200L/t to 180L/t. This target is well below the coal industry average of 380L/t. It supports our strategy to reduce water intake in line with the DWS’s drive to increase water conservation and reclamation. Our overall water efficiency rate deteriorated by 39% due to the ramp-up of our Belfast operation and changes to in-pit conditions at Grootegeluk.

	Target (L/t) 2025	Water intensity (L/t)			Water withdrawal (kL)
Water intensity		2020	2019	2018	2020	2019	2018
Mpumalanga
Belfast	200	132	28	—	416 628	29 501	—
Dorstfontein East	280	116	168	249	219 140	383 541	444 057
	130	66	88	98	111 798	112 009	99 172
Forzando	140	124	70	135	406 326	281 797	434 315
Leeuwpan	100	38	25	55	228 085	165 241	363 694
Matla	220	190	159	181	1 168 683	950 292	1 197 247
Limpopo
Grootegeluk	170	150	99	91	8 198 145	5 364 282	5 187 375

 

Water recycling

Exxaro introduced a water recycling ratio in 2020 and set a target of 38% for 2025. We define our water recycling ratio as the total water recycled divided by total water used (including recycled water). Our overall water recycling ratio is 45%. The coal industry average is 6%, as outlined in the national water use efficiency benchmarks of the DWS.

Water recycling ratio	2020  (%)
Mpumalanga
Belfast	38
Dorstfontein East	86
Dorstfontein West	39
Forzando	69
Leeuwpan	30
Matla	44
Limpopo
Grootegeluk	40

 

GRI water standards

Our alignment with the GRI standards for water reporting is outlined below. (Includes Mafube’s 50% numbers)

GRI standards water reporting	2020  (ML)	2019  (ML)	2018  (ML)
Total water withdrawal	11 798	9 021	10 164
Surface water	8 877	5 869	6 587
Groundwater	1 368	2 072	2 353
Third-party water	1 553	1 081	1 224
Total water discharged	874	1 339	1 953
Water consumption	10 924	7 682	8 211

 

Tailings storage facilities

Exxaro’s dam assets contain both clean and polluted water. Dams with a wall height of more than 5m and with a capacity of more than 50 000m³ are considered as dams with a safety risk according to the South African Dam Safety Legislation. Only a few clean and dirty water dams meet above minimum requirements to be classified with the DWS as dams with a safety risk. Once classified, the dams are categorised in categories I, II and III according to their risk potential. A category III dam has the highest hazard potential. The table below shows all dams categorised as dams with a safety risk by DWS.

BU	Category I	Category II
Matla	–	Matla Brine Ponds
Grootegeluk	–	Grootegeluk Cyclic Ponds
ECC	–	Dorsfontein East PCD 1, 2 and 3
Leeuwpan	–	Witklip Dam
Durnacol	Durnacol dam no 4	Durnacol dam no 7
		Langley dam no 2
		Langley dam no 3
Tshikondeni	Unwa dam	–