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IMPALA REFINERIES - CREATING A BETTER FUTURE

Impala is Implats’ 96%-owned primary subsidiary, which has mining operations near Rustenburg, as well as base and precious metals refineries, situated in Springs, east of Johannesburg. Impala Refining Services (IRS), a division of Impala, is also situated in Springs, and houses the toll-refining and metal concentrate purchases built up by Implats. The operation provides smelting and refining services through offtake agreements.

The Group believes the sustainability of our activities depends on our ability to contribute to the wellbeing and prosperity of our host communities. Impala Refineries is committed to making a meaningful difference and improving the lives of communities residing close to our operations through our various social programmes focusing on education and skills development, and our environment-focussed programmes.

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Innovating for a lowercarbon future

We have invested around R25 million in targeted fuel cell development in South Africa in collaboration with government and academic institutions to help promote local technology development, as well as develop local skills and fuel cell manufacturing and deployment.

Together with our partners, Impala Refineries installed a 1.5kW fuel cell for testing under realistic load conditions at our Springs Refineries, where grey hydrogen is already piped. Testing the stationary fuel cell follows the already successful implementation of a fully operational mobile hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift at the refinery, which emits zero air pollution. Impala Refineries also donated 16ha of its land for the development of a special economic zone, aimed at driving local fuel cell manufacturing.

Simultaneously, Implats is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, with a short-term target of a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by FY2030. The switch to renewable energy plays an important role in achieving these goals and in mitigating worsening electricity supply disruptions. Impala Refineries is undertaking studies for a combined heat and power project to eliminate coal use, and an initiative to procure wheeled renewable energy for all South African operations is currently in the request-for-information stage.

Education and skills development

In FY2022, Implats’ South African operations invested R865 million on skills development, representing 6.8% of our annual leviable payroll, against our target of 5% (as required by the Mining Charter). Our goal is to deliver education, skills and enterprise development programmes that open employment opportunities.

Impala Refineries’ strategy is focused on enhancing the quality of education.

Our programmes range from early childhood development to higher levels of schooling. We identify talent and develop skills within our organisation and in our local communities by working with schools and other education stakeholders.

Appropriate educational infrastructure plays a major role in supporting children in their learning, and many of our projects are directed at improving existing school facilities and building new education infrastructure, includingablution amenities.

Impala Refineries supports a number of local schools, including Payneville Primary School, where we built ablution facilities, the school’s administration block, and provided vital educational equipment. At Bakerton Primary School, we donated towards improving the kitchen facilities to enable a feeding scheme for the learners, most of whom come from informal settlements.

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Impala Refineries also has an established School Achiever Programme, which supports supplementary classes for learners. In 2021, the programme sponsored 25 grade 10 learners, 40 grade 11 learners and 25 grade 12 learners. The School Achiever Programme contributed to the 2021 cohort obtaining a 100% Matric pass rate with 100% university entry passes.

We also support Kwa-Thema Early Childhood Development to improve its teaching and learning environment, and this is positively impacting 60 children.

Our long-term strategic focus is to also help community enterprises become part of our supply chain and to transition to provide their services nationally.

Committed to responsible growth

Implats is committed to a five-year capital investment programme to increase beneficiation capacity, strengthen energy security and ensure the Group meets its decarbonisation targets. At Impala Refineries, ounce production is set to increase in line with our growth and beneficiation strategy. As such, sections of the Base Metals Refinery in Springs are being de-bottlenecked to expand treatment capacity by about 10% to provide room for future growth. The Group is also completing a new precious metals facility, including three new processing sections and required utilities and ancillary areas.

These projects are set to directly increase local beneficiation, at a lower-carbon output, thus positioning the region more competitively as a global mine-to-market PGM producer.

We are committed to creating a better future.

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