Environmental, social and governance performance is both a licence-to-operate imperative and a financing prerequisite: the Group’s target funders apply rigorous ESG and development-impact screens. TerraNova’s ESG strategy is built into the operating and financial model rather than added afterwards.

Environmental

• Renewable-powered mining via solar generation and wheeling, lowering carbon intensity and cost.
• Water recycling and tailings recovery to minimise fresh-water draw and reprocess magnetite from tailings.
• Progressive rehabilitation provided for under IAS 37 and funded through a ring-fenced provision (see below).

Social

• 3,100 direct jobs plus substantial indirect employment in a high-unemployment region.
• Community development and local supplier programmes under a Social and Labour Plan, prioritising local procurement and skills.

Rehabilitation provision

The plan recognises a rehabilitation and closure obligation from day one, in line with IAS 37: a decommissioning asset is capitalised and depreciated over the mine life, and a matching provision is carried on the balance sheet and unwound through a finance charge as the discount reverses. The provision grows from approximately R380m to over R580m across the projection, and is backed by a ring-fenced funding arrangement. Treating closure as a funded, balance-sheet obligation, not a deferred afterthought, is both regulatory best practice and a marker of bankable governance.

Carbon and the energy transition

There is a strategic elegance to a copper mine decarbonising its own operations: copper is the enabling metal of the energy transition, and a renewable-powered copper mine embodies the very demand it serves. The renewable-energy programme, fleet electrification and waste-heat recovery progressively lower Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions per tonne of copper, improving both the cost position and the ESG profile that lenders and, ultimately, copper buyers increasingly price in. Low-carbon copper is beginning to command recognition among customers with their own decarbonisation targets, adding a potential premium to the offtake.

Water stewardship and biodiversity

In a water-stressed catchment, water stewardship is a licence-to-operate priority: the closed-loop water system, separation of contact and clean water, and continuous monitoring are designed to minimise both draw and discharge. Biodiversity is managed through a mitigation hierarchy, avoid, minimise, restore, offset, with progressive rehabilitation of disturbed land and, where appropriate, biodiversity offsets agreed with regulators and communities.

Community and shared value

The Group’s Social and Labour Plan commits to local employment, skills development, enterprise and supplier development, and community infrastructure. A community-equity or trust participation, giving host communities a direct stake in the mine’s success, aligns incentives, reduces social risk, and reflects the shared-value model that both regulators and development-finance funders increasingly expect. In a region of high unemployment, the 3,100 direct jobs and associated indirect employment are, in themselves, the single largest development contribution.