Sibanye-Stillwater is a multinational mining and metals processing group with a diverse portfolio of operations, projects and investments across five continents. The Group is also one of the foremost global recyclers of PGM autocatalysts and has interests in leading mine tailings retreatment operations.
Sibanye-Stillwater is one of the world’s largest primary producers of platinum, palladium, and rhodium and is a top tier gold producer. It also produces and refines iridium and ruthenium, nickel, chrome, copper and cobalt. The Group has recently begun to diversify its asset portfolio into battery metals mining and processing and increase its presence in the circular economy by growing its recycling and tailings reprocessing exposure globally.
A Closer Look
Our purpose
To safeguard global sustainability through our metals
This purpose statement reflects our aspiration to make a positive social and environmental impact through the commodities we mine and produce (green metals) and how we do so (ESG embedded as the way we do business), not least through our role in contributing to decarbonising the global economy.
Our vision
To be a leader in superior shared value for all stakeholders
This vision statement speaks to our conviction that responsibly-derived minerals (mining that minimises harm to people and the planet) are the source of significant economic, social and environmental benefit to society, both globally and locally.
Our iCARES values
- Innovation: We intentionally find new ways to do things better. We will all understand the need to innovate, develop innovators, encourage innovation, invite everyone to innovate; and we recognise innovation.
- Commitment: We are committed to the protection of life, health and the environment; to operational excellence, to high standards of governance, to ethical conduct and regulatory compliance, and to adhering to best practice industry disclosure and reporting standards.
- Accountability: We are accountable to our stakeholders for delivering on our key operational targets and strategic objectives; for identifying, managing and mitigating the risks inherent in our business; and for maximising the return on capital deployed.
- Respect: We treat people fairly, respect each other, value the richness of human diversity and support employees in realising their full potential.
- Enabling: We enable prosperous and sustainable operations by engaging with our stakeholders, empowering our employees in their professional development, and offering doorstep communities skills and resources to thrive post-mining.
- Safety: We acknowledge that working at depth, with heavy machinery, presents risks to life and limb; therefore we prioritise all practical, technical and behavioural measures to reduce safety and health risks to near zero.
Strategic foundation
This defines the impact we aspire to make in the global economy and in local societies influenced by our operations; it is the difference our business makes. It embraces our purpose, vision and values, as well as the core principles that guide our decisions, including our commitment to ESG excellence and shared value. Our Umdoni tree is at the heart of our strategic foundation and represents our fundamental approach to business.
The Sibanye-Stillwater Umdoni tree symbolises our approach to stakeholder capitalism. The roots of the tree hold our values, signifying that below the surface of success and competition, Sibanye-Stillwater iCARES.
We represent our business ethos through the indigenous South African Umdoni tree
- our values are the fundamental roots of our organisation, which provide a solid basis for the way we do business
- the trunk of the tree (our people) represents the material strength of the company
- the leaves on the branches represent all our stakeholders
- the tree’s seeds and fruits signify the varying benefits and value that our success will bring to those stakeholders
Strategic essentials
Our strategic essentials are instrumental for us to compete on the global stage.
Ensuring safety and well-being
Prospering in every region in which we operate
Achieving operational excellence and optimising long-term resource value
Maintaining a profitable business and optimising capital allocation
ESG embedded as the way we do business
Strategic differentiators
We have defined four strategic differentiators that represent the opportunities we have identified to be distinctive in the global minerals industry.
Recognised as a force for good
Unique global portfolio of green metals and energy solutions that reverse climate change
Inclusive, diverse and bionic
Building pandemic-resilient ecosystem
The products we currently produce – namely gold, platinum group metals (PGMs), and battery metals – generate a variety of impacts, depending on the markets in which they are sold, and their use and application.
68%
GREEN REVENUE FACTOR
The FTSE Russell green revenue factor; defined by FTSE Russell as the percentage of revenue that is derived from products that have a positive environmental utility which help prevent, restore and/or adapt to issues deriving from climate change, natural resource limitations and environmental degradation.
SA gold operations
Primary product is gold
SA PGM operations
Primary metals produced are platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4E) Secondary PGMs – iridium, ruthenium – as well as chrome, copper and nickel produced as by-products
Keliber lithium project
Primary product will be lithium hydroxide, a compound used in lithium-ion batteries
Sandouville nickel refinery
Primary product is nickel and related salts
US PGM operations
Primary metals produced are palladium and platinum
(2E)
Recycling of PGMs – platinum, palladium and rhodium (3E)
Century tailings retreatment
Sibanye-Stillwater owns and operates the zinc tailings retreatment operation in Queensland, Australia
PGMs market
Sibanye-Stillwater sells the PGMs and by-products produced internationally to primary markets in Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. PGMs are mostly sold in the form of refined bars, powder or sponge. Primary uses of PGMs:
Autocatalysts
Jewellery
Chemical industry
Glass manufacture
Electrical industry
Medical applications
Gold market
Gold ore is processed at the mines’ gold plants to produce doré (unrefined gold bars). The doré is refined by Rand Refinery to a purity of at least 99.5%, in accordance with the London Bullion Market Association’s standards of ‘good delivery’. The refined gold bars are sold directly to international bullion banks. Principal areas of gold demand are:
Jewellery, mainly India and China
Central banks
Investment – mostly
institutional, including
exchange-traded funds
Technological applications,
especially nanotechnology
Lithium, nickel and zinc markets
Lithium and its compounds have been used in the manufacturing of high-temperate lubricants, high strengh-to-weight alloys, heat-resistant glass and ceramics and in the synthesis of the cathode of lithium-ion batteries. With our Keliber lithium project located in Finland, lithium is a strategic commodity with the growing European end-user battery markets for lithium hydroxide.
Nickel is an essential component in Li-ion batteries, enabling batteries to store greater amounts of energy. Our Sandouville nickel processing facility in France is ideally located to serve the European end-user market.
Zinc is highly recyclable and can be recovered and reprocessed with very minimal losses. It fits well in our Green metal strategy as zinc coatings play an essential part in protecting solar, wind and energy infrastructure from corrosion.
Refer to the sustainability page for more detail on our ESG credentials.