Sharing value with the community

Our work to sell scrap and use the proceeds to help local businesses is a testament to our commitment to the communities in which we operate.

Encouraging entrepreneurs
Our initiative, called the Tujipamo Community Initiative, aims to empower local people with funding for their businesses. After conversations with local leaders, we looked for ways to share the value that our mine creates with a wider section of the community. This initiative allows us to give a leg up to local entrepreneurs, helping to create jobs outside of our operations and fund businesses that will stand the test of time, contribute to the local economy, and that have a positive societal impact.
In order to raise these funds, we sell scrap metal generated from our mining processes. The scrap metal itself is made up of manganese, steel iron, aluminum, mill balls and rubber. Mostly, it is derived from the copper production process.

Once we identified recyclable materials that could be sold, we engaged buyers through a tender process. The buyers come from a variety of industries and find ways to either recycle or reuse the materials we sell them – for example, turning the scrap mill balls back into usable mill balls. So that we know these materials are truly recycled, we sell the scrap to buyers who have been certified by the Zambia Environmental Management Authority.

Our process
We find uncovered businesses to work with through an in-depth tender process. This process factored in the viability of each business, its potential for growth, and the positive impact that it could deliver to society. We scrutinized each business to narrow it all down to our final selection. We then committed to working with our chosen businesses, helping them to get the funding they need to get their ideas off the ground, so they can become sustainable and continue running long into the future.

So far, we have helped cooperatives by funding business ventures from poultry and pig farming, to tailoring and designing, and to carpentry.

In total, across all the different companies that we have been able to fund, we have provided around US$255,000 of funding, helping these businesses to grow and support the local community.