Sustainability / Glossary

Glossary

An explanation of the abbreviations, terms and words used on this website.

AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) (2008) - provides the requirements for conducting sustainability assurance. It evaluates adherence to the AA1000 Principles and the quality of publicly disclosed information on sustainability performance.

AIDS – Acquired immune deficiency syndrome

AS/NZS 4801 – Australia/New Zealand Standard specifying requirements for an occupational health and safety management system

BEE – Black Economic Empowerment - The “Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003” established a legislative framework for the economic empowerment of all black people including women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas.

Biodiversity – Biodiversity is an abbreviation of “biological diversity” and means the variability among living organisms from all sources, including land based and aquatic ecosystems, and the ecosystems of which they are part. These include diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.

Biodiversity offset – The setting aside of an area to compensate for the disturbance or loss of biodiversity.

Business Principles – Xstrata’s Statement of Business Principles sets out the ethical framework for the way we work globally. The statement sets out specific aspirations and commitments that apply to the company’s relations with its customers, employees, shareholders, partners, suppliers and in the communities where it operates.

Carbon intensity – calculated as CO2-e tonnes per tonne of product

CCS – Carbon capture and storage. The capture of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels and storage as liquid CO2 in deep underground seams

CCSD – Cooperative Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development in Australia

‘Clean coal’ technology - refer to LECT – low emission coal technology below.

Closure plan – A formal document detailing a costed conceptual outline of how the operation will be closed, taking into account the options available to deal with prevailing social and environmental issues.

CO2-e – Carbon dioxide equivalent is a standard metric by which greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide are converted to CO2 equivalence to facilitate comparisons and quantification.

Colliery – Underground coal mine

Combined Code on Corporate Governance - The UK’s Combined Code on Corporate Governance sets out standards of good practice in relation to issues such as board composition and development, remuneration, accountability and audit and relations with shareholders.

Commodity business unit (CBU) – Xstrata’s activities are structured into five global commodity businesses organised along commodity lines; Xstrata Alloys, Xstrata Coal, Xstrata Copper, Xstrata Nickel, Xstrata Zinc; plus Xstrata Technology.

CRC – Co-operative Research Centre - key body for Australian scientific research administered by the Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research

Critical Incident (CI) – An incident which has caused a fatality orlife threatening injuries to a person; damage to assets or property, or loss of operations, to a value greater than US$10 million; a category 4 or category 5 environmental incident or; media attention/Public exposure of a serious, negative consequence.

CSI – Corporate Social Involvement

dBA – Decibels are used to measure sound level. The most widely used sound level filter is the A scale, measurements made on this scale are expressed as dBA.

DEAT – Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa

Direct energy - Forms of energy that are consumed within the operational boundary

Disabling Injury – Lost Time Injuries (LTI) and Restricted Work Injuries (RWI)

DISR – Disabling Injury Severity Rate - days lost to disabling injuries per million hours worked

DJSI – Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Diversity - Workplace diversity refers to the extent to which an organisation is culturally diverse. Cultural diversity includes the range of ways in which people experience a unique group identity, which includes gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and age.

EC – European Commission

EIS - Environmental Impact Study

EIA – Environmental impact assessment

EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) - The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) aims to increase transparency in transactions between governments and companies within the extractive industries sector.

Environmental incident categories - Incidents are classified on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 representing the extent of environmental impact.

EMPR – Environmental Management Programme Report (the South African equivalent of an Environmental Impact Study/Assessment)

EMS – Environmental Management System[s].

EU – European Union

Fatality – A death resulting from an occupational injury or illness

Fresh water intensity - fresh water use per tonne of product

GJ – Gigajoules (1 GJ = 1,000,000,000 joules).

Global Compact – the UN Global Compact is a voluntary corporate responsibility initiative to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

GHGs - Greenhouse gases

GRI – Global Reporting Initiative – a multi stakeholder, international process whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to assist corporations in reporting on the economic, environmental, and social performance of their operations.

ha – Hectares (1 ha = 10,000 square metres).

HDSA – Historically disadvantaged South African.

High Potential Risk Incident (HPRI) - An incident which could have resulted in a Critical Incident (CI).

HIV – Human immunodeficiency virus.

Hours worked – Total number of hours worked by employees, including overtime and training, excluding leave, sickness and other absences, including the total number of contractor hours worked on site during the year.

HSEC – Health, safety, environment and community.

ICMM – International Council on Mining and Metals

ILO – International Labour Organisation

Indirect energy - Energy produced outside the operational boundary that is consumed to supply energy for the operation (e.g. purchased electricity)

Intensity – (intensity measure) key performance indicators normalised to tonne of production

ISO 14001 – The International Standardisation Organisation’s standard for environmental management systems.

IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, also known as the ‘World Conservation Union’

Jarofix - jarosite is transformed into jarofix, a solidified, stabilised, inert material (classified as a non-hazardous waste)

Jarosite - iron sulphate (classified as a hazardous waste)

kWh – kilowatt hour

Land disturbed – Land disturbed by operational activities.

Land rehabilitated – Land disturbed by operational activities and then reshaped and revegetated.

LECT – Low emission coal technology. Technology to produce near-zero carbon emission electricity and hydrogen from coal.

Longwall – Series of equipment, including hydraulic jacks and a shearer, used to mine coal in an underground mine.

LPG – Liquid petroleum gas.

LTI – Lost Time Injury – an occupational injury or illness that results in days away from work on any rostered shift subsequent to that on which the injury occurred. A fatality is also recorded as a LTI.

LTIFR – Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate = number of lost time injuries per million hours worked

m3 – Cubic metres

MAC – Mining Association of Canada

Materiality – disclosing all information of significant concern to stakeholders for assessing our economic, environmental, and social performance

MCA – Minerals Council of Australia

Megalitre or ML – 1 megalitre = 1,000,000 litres or 1,000 kilolitres.

MWh – megawatt hour (1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh))

μg/dl – Micrograms per decilitre (decilitre = one tenth of a litre)

Millennium Development Goals – eight goals agreed by the United Nations in 2000 which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Mining Charter – The policy objective stated in the South African Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act to expand opportunities for historically disadvantaged persons to enter the mining and minerals industry or benefit from the exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources;

MPRDA –theSouth AfricanMinerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2004 governs the transfer of mining rights and grant of mining authorisations

Mt – Megatonnes (1 Mt = 1,000,000 tonnes).

MTI – Medical Treatment Injuries – an occupational injury / illness which is not classified as an LTI or RWI, but which results in loss of consciousness or medical treatment after first aid.

MW – Megawatt, a unit for measuring electric power, which has the value of 1,000,000 watts

NGOs – Non-governmental organisations

NIHL – Noise-induced hearing loss

Non-trading items – non-trading items are material items of income and expense, which, due to their nature or expected infrequency are presented separately

NOx – Oxides of nitrogen (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide).

NT – Northern Territory, Australia

Occupational illness – An occupational illness is registered when it is confirmed as a work related compensable case by a medical practitioner/physician.

OHSAS 18001 – the internationally recognised assessment specification for occupational health and safety management systems. It was developed by a selection of leading trade bodies,international standards and certification bodies.

PGMs – Platinum group metals

PPE – Personal protective equipment

PJ – Petajoule (1,000,000 gigjoules).

Premus technology – proprietary technology for the production of ferrochrome, developed and patented by Xstrata Alloys. Premus technology has significant cost and environmental benefits compared to existing technology.

Raw water – Untreated water extracted from groundwater, dams or rivers. Groundwater is extracted from wells, bores, cut off trenches and mine dewatering both on and off site. Surface water is defined as water from streams, lakes and dams including storm water and collected runoff.

Recycled water – Recycled/re-used water is water:

that has been used at least once in a process within the operation or at another operation within the organisation; and
that would otherwise be part of a waste stream; and
if not re–used, would require the input of raw water.

Red List – IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Reductant – Reducing agent, i.e. the electron donor in an oxidation–reduction (redox) reaction.

Renewable energy - energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished).

Renewable resources - capable of being replenished within a short time through ecological cycles (as opposed to resources such as minerals, metals, oil, gas, coal that do not renew in short time periods)

Resettlement - the relocation of people or communities to a new location

ROM – Run of mine

RWI – Restricted Work Injury is an occupational injury or illness that results in a person being physically or mentally unable to perform all or any part of his/her normal assignment during any rostered shift subsequent to that on which the event occurred, that is, where: (1) the employee was assigned to another job on a temporary basis; (2) the employee worked at a permanent job less than full–time; or (3) the employee worked at his or her permanently assigned job but could not perform all the duties normally connected with it.

Scope 1 / direct GHG emissions – GHG emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by Xstrata. For example, direct emissions related to combustion from burning fuel for energy within the mining lease.

Scope 2 / indirect GHG emissions – GHG emissions that result from Xstrata’s activities but are generated at sources owned or controlled by another organisation. In the context of this indicator, indirect emissions refer to greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of electricity consumed by Xstrata’s operations.

Scope 3 GHG emissions – Scope 3 is an optional reporting category that allows for the treatment of all other indirect GHG emissions. Scope 3 GHG emissions are a consequence of the activities of our operations, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the company. Some examples of scope 3 activities are transportation of materials and use of sold products.

SD – Sustainable Development

SD Assurance Programme – Under the Xstrata SD Assurance Programme operations and projects undergo a range of SD audits, including SD risk audits, SD standards audits, Sd integration audits and SD verification audits

SD Standards – Xstrata’s 17 SD standards which set out corporate SD performance expectations for each project and operation and against which sites and commodity businesses are independently audited through the Xstrata SD Assurance Programme.

SME – small and medium sized enterprise(s).

Social Involvement Plan (SIP) – a plan produced by each commodity business which determines engagement with local communities, and details the range of initiatives to be undertaken and the financial and other resources dedicated to social involvement.

Tailings and tailings dams – the fine fraction of waste rock remaining after the mining and on-site processing of mineral resources. Tailings are transferred into engineered impoundments known as tailings dams.

Total fresh water (total water consumption) - the sum of all fresh water drawn into the boundaries of the reporting organisation from all sources (including surface water, ground water, rainwater, and municipal water supply) for any use over the course of the reporting period.

Turnover – employment resignations and terminations as a percentage of the total permanent workforce

Transformation – In South Africa, the term transformation describes the ongoing process to develop a sustainable, equitable society and economy in post-apartheid South Africa

TRI – Total Recordable Injuries – a measure that includes Lost Time Injuries (including fatalities); Restricted Work Injuries; and Medical Treatment Injuries

TRIFR – Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate = number of total recordable injuries (LTI + RWI + MTI) per million hours worked

VCT – Voluntary counselling and HIV/AIDs testing programme

Waste water discharged – Total volume of effluent discharged to: surface water for irrigation; third parties for treatment; and rivers or oceans.

Last Modified on July 21 2009, 14:02:25 PST

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