Our social investment decisions expand our community efforts beyond our immediate sphere of influence and allow us to develop sustainable legacies.
We ensure that our decisions are defined, driven and informed by the needs of the community and provide long-term benefits.
Priority areas for support include:
- locally organised events and activities with broad community appeal
- skills development and educational programs
- environmental projects, sustainable development objectives, community education and conservation programs
- health and wellbeing programs.
In addition to funding, our employees and contract partners provide in-kind assistance by donating time, expertise and resources for community events and initiatives.
Educating the Next Generation
The OZ Minerals Social Contribution Funding Program reflects what is front and centre of our Company strategy – creating value for our stakeholders, particularly our Communities and Workforce. The program is about educating the next generation and keeping our communities healthy.
In 2022 we revised the Flagship Social Contribution Program by extending its boundaries beyond South Australia. We created a structure that connects people across the business, ensuring our work maximises value. The structure comprises a four-pronged approach to forge strong partnerships with communities into the future.
Funding
The Flagship Social Contribution Program has been running for since 2019. In 2022 we redeveloped the funding guidelines, sought feedback on them, and expanded our commitment to include three education-focused organisations:
- Clontarf Foundation, with a focus on Aboriginal boys
- Shooting Stars, with a focus on Aboriginal girls
- The Smith Family, which has a program that supports disadvantaged children more broadly.
In addition to these, we fund the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
Early Career Support
Internships, graduate programs and work experience placements are crucial to help students towards employment in their chosen field. They also provide the opportunity to demonstrate what The OZWay means for potential workforce members. We are committed to supporting our communities and future workforce through early career programs suited to their stage of development.
Innovation
We support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school and university students by sharing expertise and facilitating design and innovation competitions. This creates value for our communities and brings students and ideas into our Company. As a Modern Mining Company, we support new technologies and the people who pioneer them. The program’s Innovation arm strengthens our commitment to educating the next generation and allow us to create relationships with future innovators.
Volunteering
We sought employee and community feedback on our social investment program as part of our review in 2018. Our people told us they wanted to be more engaged with our communities, so we included volunteering in our Flagship Social Contribution Program. By including volunteering as part of our Educating the Next Generation Program we connect our Workforce with opportunities through the organisations we sponsor, the education institutions we work with, and the young innovators we support. This strengthens our Community partnerships and provides our Workforce with greater job satisfaction. Volunteering opportunities become part of how our teams work together and help us to build relationships within teams and with our communities.
Stakeholder Support Fund
Our Strategy is centred on value creation for our six Stakeholder groups – Workforce, Communities, Governments, Suppliers, Shareholders and Customers – and stakeholder value creation requires performance across multiple dimensions. Similarly, the challenges associated with sustainable development are also multifaceted, involving economic, social, and environmental considerations. In this respect we created a COVID-19 Stakeholder Support Fund to help build resilience for our Stakeholders in a COVID-19 environment. Between 2020 and 2023 we worked with our stakeholders to leverage support and resources to build resilience through the COVID-19 impact period while maintaining and strengthening existing relationships.
The fund has contributed over $1.5 million to support communities and organisations in the areas where we operate in Australia and Brazil including:
- a Health Coordinator for the Ngaanyatjarra Council
- Brazil COVID-19 related personal protective equipment including oximeters, masks, alcohol gel kits, 5,000 rapid antigen tests, and awareness campaigns
- tailored governance training supplied by the Australian Institute of Company Directors for the Traditional Owner Corporations associated with our South Australian Assets
- funding for Foodbank SA to support vulnerable people in South Australia to help ease the burden of cost of living increases and logistics issues within the service
- funding to support lifting the vaccination rates in the First Nations communities where we operate.
- financial support for the Competitive Capability program delivered by Global Maintenance Upper Spencer Gulf
Asset and Corporate Ad Hoc Sponsorship
In developing social contribution initiatives, we try to avoid creating dependency. Instead, we strive to support organisations or projects in achieving self-sustaining outcomes so communities close to our operations benefit from our presence. In addition to our extensive Educating the Next Generation Program, we also provide ad hoc sponsorship relevant to each Asset and to our Corporate centre.
We also consider non-financial ways to be of service to our wide-reaching community, so please contact us if you have any opportunities for mentoring or using our skills in a remote and safe capacity.
We have strong governance processes to ensure transparency and accountability. For information about priority areas and the application process, see the sponsorship page.