Tharisa is committed to the socioeconomic upliftment of the host communities in which it operates and strives to minimise potentially negative social impacts while promoting opportunities for the local communities in its area of operation. Tharisa Minerals is committed to community initiatives through its SLP, which address job creation, poverty alleviation, basic infrastructure, education and development needs.
Employees who received learnerships, bursaries, internships and skills and enterprise development training
Total amount spent on SLPs/CSI
Total amount spent on procurement from HDP, women and B-BBEE compliant companies
Total spent on local/host community suppliers
Tharisa Minerals is situated in the Bojanala District Municipality within the Rustenburg Local Municipality, close to the small town of Marikana. The mine’s immediate neighbour is the community of Mmaditlhokwa. Approximately one-third of the employees at Tharisa Minerals and the mining contractors are from this community.
Our strategy for host communities’ social and economic progression is aligned and informed by the local municipality’s integrated development plan (‘IDP’). It is translated into action through local initiatives incorporated into our SLP.
Tharisa Minerals prefers to work directly with its host communities rather than through charitable organisations. In this way, the Company engages meaningfully, directly and intimately with these communities.
Within Ward 32, the municipal area where the mine operates, there are several villages and small holdings. This has resulted in a diverse range of stakeholders, from employee families to farmers. The Group participates in structured engagement with small farm owners, and these engagements are hosted separately due to their differences and diverse needs and cultures.
Since its establishment, the task team has been able to compile feedback and presentations to the DMRE on risk assessment within the community, with wide community participation. Community commitment and support are key as local stakeholders know the issues in their community and how best to address them while accounting for our social licence to operate. People and community remain at the heart of our values. We are open to engaging with our community to help secure academic and economic empowerment.
This past financial year, our focus was on education, portable skills training, telecommunication, healthy living, and taking care of vulnerable people. The table below summarises our input towards the education system and reduces the literacy gap.
Tharisa aims to recruit from the local communities and surrounding areas where possible. To this end, several programmes have been implemented to train the youth in the communities to provide the necessary skills to make them employable, not only by Tharisa Minerals but also by other mines in the area.
During FY2023, many community members benefitted from basic numeracy and literacy training provided by Tharisa Minerals at no cost. Upon completing their training, these learners will qualify as fully fledged artisans. The interns are recently qualified graduates who require workplace experience before entering the job market, and Tharisa can offer coaching advice for job seeking and interviews.
Being a highly mechanised operation, the Tharisa Mine is not labour-intensive, making it impossible for Tharisa Minerals alone to meet all the employment needs of the local communities. A database from which people are identified for recruitment and training interventions has been established by Tharisa Minerals in collaboration with the local communities and is continuously updated.
At Tharisa, we treasure our suppliers and partners who provide their goods and services to support the successful functioning of our operations. We also pride ourselves on inclusive procurement because charity does begin at home. We, as Tharisa, ensure our continued compliance with relevant South African legislation and the Mining Charter.
