Sustainability website / Glossary

AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) – the first non-proprietary, open-source
Assurance Standard that covers the full range of an organisation's disclosure and performance, based on assessment of reports against three Assurance Principles: Materiality; Completeness; and Responsiveness.

AIDS – Acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

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

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 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 and storage of CO₂ produced by combustion of coal.

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

'Clean coal' technology – a range of different technologies to reduce or eliminate the carbon emissions associated with the combustion of coal.

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 revailing 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 – Xstrata's activities are structured into global commodity businesses organised along commodity lines; Xstrata Alloys, Xstrata Coal, Xstrata Copper, Xstrata Nickel, Xstrata Zinc and Xstrata Technology.

CRC – Co-operative Research Centre.

Critical Incident (CI) – An incident which has caused a fatality or life threatening injuries to a person; damage to assets or property, or loss of operations, to a value greater than US$0.5 million; a category 4 or category 5 environmental incident or; media attention/Ppublic exposure of a serious, negative consequence.

dBA – Decibels adjusted (measurement of noise intensity).

DEAT – Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa.

Disabling Injury – Calculated as Lost Time Injuries plus Restricted Work Injuries (LTI + RWI).

DISR – Disabling Injury Severity Rate. The number of disabling injuries per million hours worked.

EIS – Environmental Impact Study.

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

Environmental Incident categories – Incidents are classified on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 representing extent of environmental impact.

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

EMS – Environmental Management System(s).

Fatality – A death resulting from an occupational injury or illness and identified within the reporting period.

Fresh water intensity – raw ground and surface 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.

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 (nonhazardous waste).

Jarosite – iron sulphate (classified as a hazardous waste).

Land disturbed – Land disturbed by operational activities.

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

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 = LTI x 1,000,000/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.

mg/dl – Micrograms per decilitre (a metric unit of volume equal to one-tenth of a litre).

Millennium Development Goals – eight goals agreed by the United Nations in 2000 with a view to tackling global poverty.

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 – the South African Minerals 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 – Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (specifications for occupational health and safety management systems).

PGMs – Platinum group metals.

PPE – Personal protective equipment.

PJ – Petajoule (1015 joules).

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, the electron donor in an oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction.

ROM – Run of mine.

RWI – Restricted Work Injury – 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.

SD – Sustainable Development.

SD Assurance Programme – Under the SD Assurance Programme operations and projects which achieve set SD performance criteria, including previous audit performance, will be selected to move to annual self-assessments in 2008. Operations and projects not meeting this standard will continue to have the audit protocol independently applied.

SD Standards – a set of 17 standards which set out corporate performance expectations for each 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 piped into engineered impoundments known as tailings dams.

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

Transformation – In South Africa, the term transformation describes the ongoing process to develop a sustainable, equitable society and economy in 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 = (LTI + RWI + MTI) x 1,000,000/hours worked.

VCT – Voluntary counselling and testing for HIV/AIDs.

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