Black Mountain Mining (BMM) remains committed to the Zero Harm bottom line, in reaching the goal several health initiatives are activated every year. The Eye Care Surgeries Tour takes place annually in collaboration with the South-African National Council of the Blind (SANCB) and the Northern Cape Department of Health.

The annual Pink Drive breast (Mammogram) and prostate examination programme was introduced in the year 2015. The programme aims to assist in the early detection and treatment of breast & prostate cancer within the Namakwa District and Black Mountain Mining (BMM) host communities within the Khai-Ma Municipal Area. Mobile trucks are deployed to visit the communities and residents are encouraged to undergo the relevant testing. The Pink Drive program reinforces the mine’s continuous commitment to access healthcare services. The close partnership between BMM and the Department of Social Development and Health is one of the programme’s great successes.

Through their Corporate Social Responsibility, Black Mountain Mine (BMM) has ensured upgrades to the local Khai-Ma Community Hospital (Community Health Centre) to assist in efficient service delivery from these institutions.

Black Mountain Mine (BMM) strives to meet the needs of local communities through investment in socio-economic development and conservation of the environment, solar water pumps have been installed on small-scale farms in Pella, Pofadder, Onseepkans, and Witbank. This initiative in a Presidentially declared drought-stricken area ensures that livestock and small-scale farmers have an adequate natural quality.

The Khai-Ma-focused Broad-Based Livelihood (BBL) programme, facilitated by BMM's socio-economic development partner, Umsizi Sustainable Solutions, is an ongoing flagship and ongoing socio-economic poverty alleviation programme. The programme encourages inclusive local economic development by transferring horticulture and livestock management skills that will assist communities towards food security and job creation. Black Mountain seeks to start and develop a sustainable development plan to ensure economic well-being in surrounding communities post mine closure through the BBL Program. The BBL Livestock and Horticulture Program benefitted 650 people partaking in this programme.

BMM supports local students by availing bursary opportunities in assistance to completing studies. Study fields are not limited as we encourage students to strive towards discovering their talents and reach heights in their fields of choice. Currently, there are 18 students enrolled in the scholarship programme.

The investment in education remains the biggest CSR investment for BMM and we have invested in the improvement of education at primary and high schools, as well as early childhood development. The Care Centre Support consists of child & youth care centers (orphanages) and Disability and Old Age homes.

Impact created

• 4000 elderly and children benefitted

Our commitment to local schools continued for the reporting period. Substantial financial monthly contributions are given to Rosh Pinah-based schools, which include Rosh Pinah Academy, Stepping Stones Pre-primary School, Hoeksteen Primary School, and Tsau Khaeb Secondary School. This support has also been extended to Kabouterland Pre-primary School in Aus (a community pre-primary school that caters to approximately 45 children and provides daily meals).

Rosh Pinah Academy and Stepping Stones Pre-primary schools were both negatively affected by Skorpion Zinc’s retrenchment in that learner numbers at both these schools dropped drastically. RPA presently only has 40 children and Stepping Stones has 45. The government Schools, Tsau Khaeb Secondary School and Hoeksteen Primary Schools have maintained their average learner numbers. Tsau Khaeb Secondary School was ranked in the top 10 best performing schools in both the region and nation in the 2020 academic year, placing at position 9 nationally and 3rd regionally in the grade 12 examinations. Stepping Stones, Rosh Pinah Academy and Kabouterland Primary schools receive financial assistance for operations, as they are all private schools. This support comes in a form of monthly financial contributions made from Skorpion Zinc's CSR budget. The government schools namely, Tsau Khaeb and Hoeksteen Primary Schools receive assistance in the form of teacher accommodatioinn subsidies Rosh Pinah. This greatly assists with teacher retention at both these schools and thus improves school performance. In a recent letter of appreciation addressed to Skorpion Zinc, the school principal of Tsau Khaeb Secondary School remarked, “In total, your company assists 7 of my colleagues (teachers) with accommodation and they appreciate this immensely. The school appreciates your assistance to the staff which helps us to have a stable staff for our school performance to remain high.”

Obib Training Centre is a section 21 company that was established as a partnership between Skorpion Zinc and other stakeholders. It offers basic level training in various self-help disciplines to local community members. Under the Obib Training Centre, Skorpion Zinc supports the Efafata Tailoring group, this group of women was previously trained in sewing and needlework and has now become self-sustaining a business. The group employs five women and is one of the most recent success stories under Obib in terms of self-help projects.

Through Obib Training Centre, Skorpion Zinc also supports two other projects; The Leather Products Project and the Woodwork Project. Both projects are community poverty eradication projects where community members are trained for specific skillsets in the two disciplines with the focus of enabling them to self-employ or self-sustain.

The BMM's most beneficial financial impact is undoubtedly on local suppliers and the economy of the Northern Cape. Our enterprise and local business development partner, Phakamani Impact Capital, manages an Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund to promote the advancement of local suppliers and the economy. The objectives of this initiative include connecting SMMEs to start-up funding and working capital avenues; funding SMMEs with potential and viable business proposals; mentoring and coaching with funded SMMEs; developing & supporting new and emerging small businesses. Although only launched in 2018, the positive impact of this initiative speaks for itself. This programme will henceforth be driven by the Commercial Departments with minimal support from the CSR Department.

Black Mountain Mine (BMM) as per request assist the Khai-Ma local municipality with the maintenance of the municipal fleet e.g., water trucks, sewage trucks, etc. BMM provides maintenance support services related to the breakdown/maintenance of bulk water supply of the Pella water supply infrastructure (Orange River) including infrastructure maintenance in the towns of Pella, Pofadder, Witbank, and Onseepkans. BMM also assists with electricity supply breakdowns in the Nama-Khoi Municipality area (labour sending area).

Black Mountain launched the V-Fi Mobile Wi-fi Hotspots in the town of Pella, Pofadder, and Aggeneys and have extended the Hotspots in 2020 to Onseepkans and Witbank covering all of the host communities in the Khai-Ma municipal area. The mobile hotspots give ease of access to small businesses and students to the internet. Community members can access 500MB of Data per person, per week within the range of the hotspots.

Since the start of the outbreak of the Covid 19 Pandemic the BMM Management followed a transparent and clear communications strategy in respect of Covid 19 safety procedures and protocols. The following management actions were taken during this period:

Donations and Sponsorships to the community are based on needs assessment and Black Mountain Mine contributes to these projects to alleviate dire circumstances. VZI agreed to assist farmers by providing lucerne bales, lucerne pellets, drought pellets, and cattle feed pellets to the value of R2 million. The project kicked off on 10 February 2020 and the feed was distributed over 2 weeks in the 5 municipal areas (Pella, Pofadder, Onseepkans, Witbank & Aggeneys). The drought relief assistance ensured that the local farmers could feed their livestock for at least three months.

The emergence of the novel coronavirus, known to many as Covid 19, brought numerous snowballing effects, more so for the local small and medium enterprises. In March of 2020, the President of Namibia declared a state of emergency, and with this came government-led measures to try to prevent the further spread of Covid 19. Some of the measures included the shutdown of all non-essential services which included the SMEs and local market vendors.

This meant that many SME owners and open market vendors had to endure months of no income due to lockdown regulations in place. This eventually also meant families could no longer afford to feed themselves hence our responses as outlined below.

Rosh Pinah as a town was proactive in its response to the pandemic by forming a Covid 19 Task Force. This committee consists of key stakeholders in Rosh Pinah such as Skorpion Zinc, Rosh Pinah Zinc Cooperation (Trevali), Ministry of Health, and RoshSkor Township, Sidadi Clinic, Local Schools, and some local businesses. The committee has been established to streamline local efforts in fighting and preventing Covid 19 cases in Rosh Pinah and to ensure that stakeholders leverage their resources and skills for a greater reach and impact.

Namibia announced its Covid 19 prevention measures and protocols sometime in March 2020, which included strict lockdowns and curfews. This meant that business and life as we knew changed for many people. It also meant that families could no longer fend for themselves and those with jobs were mostly retrenched. Below are some interventions that Skorpion Zinc carried out during this difficult period:

Skorpion Zinc and Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation, through RoshSkor, collaborated to provide the community of Tutungeni with soap for handwashing. Each household (all 1,050) in Tutungeni received a bar of soap and a leaflet with illustrations on proper handwashing techniques. This was to promote hygiene in the local community during the emergence of the Covid 19 pandemic. The bars of soap can last each household at least one month and a half to two months.

As part of information dissemination, Skorpion Zinc placed information posters (with illustrations) around community high people-traffic areas. This information ranged from the non-professional explanation of what Corona Virus is, what symptoms to look out for, how to properly and correctly wash hands, what to do in an event of corona-like symptoms, debunking myths around Covid 19, and how the virus is transmitted or spread.

The local health continuously shared new information as it became available for local stakeholders such as ourselves to amplify. Information such as emergency numbers to contact should any person experience any Covid 19 symptoms and what procedure to follow i.e. avoiding physically visiting the health centers.

Skorpion Zinc donated 25-liter containers of hand sanitizer to the local Rosh Pinah police station. Since the uniformed services have been identified as part of the essential services providers during the National lockdown, they were assisted with the sanitizers to ensure that they too are protected while conducting their duties during the lockdown.

The Rosh Pinah State Clinic and the Sidadi Health Centre are also part of the essential service providers identified since the declaration of Covid 19 as a national emergency. Healthcare workers continue to be at the forefront of the fight against Covid 19 and their wellbeing is of utmost importance as it enables them to assist our communities hence the donation of hand sanitizers and other cleaning items.

During April 2020, Skorpion Zinc together with other stakeholders such as RoshSkor Township donated food packages (non-perishables) to 42 households (over 200 beneficiaries) in the Tutungeni informal settlement in Rosh Pinah. The households were identified as having been severely impacted by the Covid 19 lockdown. The packages contained hygiene products such as soap and toilet paper, some canned food such as beans and tinned fish, 10 kilograms bags of rice, sugar, maize meal, and baking flour.

Community members who received the packages expressed their gratitude and thanked all parties involved in ensuring that their families did not starve during the challenging times. One of the recipients interviewed during the handover of the packages said, "We thank you and we appreciate that you are doing good things, God must bless where they took so that they can continue. To us, this is more." The Oranjemund constituency councilor who also assisted to distribute the packages door-to-door said, "I am really happy that stakeholders such as Skorpion Zinc and others can come together and help the community, I urge the recipients to manage the packages well in hope that the situation will change for the better.

Through a local procurement initiative aimed at supporting local businesses, Skorpion Zinc procured over 3000 washable and re-usable masks from a local entrepreneur based in Keetmanshoop for distribution at local schools in Rosh Pinah. According to the entrepreneur, this was one of his largest orders and has helped him keep the business afloat during difficult times. The decision was based on the urgency of the products and the capacity of the local entrepreneur. The masks were to be distributed to all local schools and needy community members through our town management office, RoshSkor.

Skorpion Zinc, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility function, has decided to avail its 192 self-contained roomed facility (The Shift Workers Village) in Rosh Pinah to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to meet its Covid 19 requirements in the Kharas region.

Skorpion has availed the facility for use as a quarantine and isolation facility to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, through the Kharas Regional Health Directorate as of June 2020 to date. The facility is only to be used for purposes related to Covid 19 requirements. Skorpion Zinc, with this gesture, ensures that the community of Rosh Pinah and the larger Kharas region have a go-to facility when the need arises. Since the beginning of June 2020 to date, the facility has served more than 4000 people. This number includes clients who were in quarantine, in isolation, and Ministry of Health staff members who rotate on a needs-basis to ensure smooth operations of the facility. Other stakeholders, such as NAMDEB, also make use of the facility to quarantine their returning shift employees under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.

Through various engagements with the Ministry of Health and Social Services regional directorate, it became apparent that the region needed assistance from local private stakeholders. As a result of these continued engagements, a request was forwarded to Skorpion Zinc for various medical equipment. In response to this request, Skorpion Zinc donated two respiratory ventilators to the Ministry of Health to assist patients battling Covid 19. The two respiratory ventilators are to service the two largest district hospitals in the Kharas region namely Luderitz State Hospital and the Keetmanshoop State Hospital. Before the donation, the suppliers of the state-of-the-art ventilators, on request of Skorpion Zinc also provided training to the Ministry of Health personnel on the use and care of the equipment.

Karate Zen is a local sports club in Rosh Pinah that helps young children with the art of Karate. The club is important because it helps society in maintaining a well-disciplined generation (Children). Karate teaches kids to be disciplined and helps kids to be more vigilant in terms of focus, studies, and concentration. The club currently has close to 40 children registered for the current year and they are busy training for an upcoming national karate event. For the past 10 years, the club has received numerous forms of support through our CSR function and presently utilizes Skorpion Zincs Sports Club House facility for their training sessions at no cost. Karate-Zen is internationally affiliated and recognized by the World Karate Federation (WKF).

Skorpion Zinc and the Namibia Football Association have over the past 6 years partnered on the biggest youth competition, the Skorpion Zinc NFA under 17 soccer tournaments. This partnership was further expanded in 2018 with the addition of a similar tournament but with a specific focus on women and girls known as the Skorpion Zinc Women Super League. Both parties have always endeavored to couple the soccer tournament with educational skills development clinics for the participating youth. The clinics focus on aspects of disciple, respect, hard work, and commitment. They also cover technical aspects of football such as new technical rules and regulations. The NFA is the governing association for football in Namibia, it has the expertise, and grassroots reach to ensure the success of the tournament at all levels. The NFA also has the capacity to ensure project longevity and sustainability through another stakeholder’s buy-in.

The scout movement is a value-based informal programme for young people helping them in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual potential, to become responsible, self-reliant citizens who play constructive roles in their communities. The Scout Group, which was established in 2018 at Tsau Khaeb Secondary School, has close to 30 learners, most of them are from the Tutungeni location in Rosh Pinah. Skorpion Zinc supported the project with the procurement of scout uniforms for the group/project members, as most are not able to afford them.

In 2017, the Council of the Chamber of Mines in Namibia, to which Skorpion Zinc is a member, approved a concept to invest in offsets in the non-mining regions of Namibia. This follows a strategic objective to broaden the sector’s footprint in social and economic development beyond the areas in which it operates. To achieve this, it was proposed that Chamber members collectively contribute to projects delivering long-term socio-economic benefits in non-mining areas. With guidance and assistance from the Namibian Chamber of Environment, the Environmental and Social committee identified two projects that required support. The first project was the electrification of the Lubuta and Sachinga villages in the Mashi conservancy in the Zambezi Region, while the second project provided affordable serviced land to the poor in Oshakati through the Shackdwellers Foundation. This initiative was administered in partnership with the Namibia Chamber of Environment (NCE), and Chamber of Mines members have collectively contributed a total of N$1,325,939 to the two initial projects.