Environment

Our progressive rehabilitation involves a patchwork of alternative land uses, pre-agreed with local authorities, including agricultural land, forestry, savannah and woodlands. We include the cost of rehabilitation in our cash operating costs as we see rehabilitating mined lands and returning them to our host communities as an intrinsic part of our mining process.

Although the Moma Mine has over 100 years of Mineral Resources, we set aside funds to cover closure costs, as required by law. Closure considerations form part of our ongoing planning, operational and engagement activities. Closure plans and associated costs are reviewed and updated annually.

In 2022, we rehabilitated 191 ha of land, exceeding our target of 174 ha. A further 93 ha of previously rehabilitated land was enhanced to help improve the overall quality of our previous efforts, totalling 284 ha of land rehabilitated. We planted 72,577 indigenous trees to restore the biodiversity lost through the mining process. Additionally, 82,955 casuarinas were planted.

The great majority of the waste tailings material comprises sand, silt and clay particles removed from the ore in the WCP. These can be sub-divided into sand tailings (>0.045 mm) and slimes (<0.045 mm), which are collected in a series of hoppers at the back of the WCP. Disposal of sand sized particles is straightforward, these being pumped to the rear of the pond and deposited by means of cyclones which are located on top of a mobile stacker.

Disposal of slimes material is more complex, given the propensity for this size fraction to remain in suspension for longer periods. A significant proportion of the slimes fraction is incorporated between sand grains in the sand tailings and needs no further management. Excess slimes in the tails are allowed to consolidate in settling ponds, and are then pumped as thick slurry to drying cells. Over the following months, the water evaporates from the slurry, leaving low moisture clay that can be easily moved and handled. This material will be placed into the subsoil during rehabilitation of the dredge path, providing benefits for the subsequent revegetation.

For information aligned to the Church of England Pensions Board Investment group's Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) disclosures, please see our Sustainability Fact Book.

Kenmare’s water stewardship strategy continues to focus on five key areas of activity:

• Watershed management – to secure water supply for current and future operations while protecting and enhancing other water uses. This is implemented through a site wide water balance, environmental monitoring and surface groundwater modelling to measure the current and projected operational water demand and to characterise the surface water and ground water systems

• Impact mitigation – to mitigate environmental and social impacts associated with the extraction, use and discharge of water and to enhance water use opportunities

• Operational performance – the site wide water balance is used to manage water as an asset, through improved performance and compliance with all commitments

• External engagement – to collaborate and engage externally on water policy, management, and challenges in Mozambique to create shared value.

• Internal collaboration – to ensure coordination across all water management areas of the business.

In 2022, our efficiency rate was 0.58 m3 water withdrawn per tonne of excavated ore, a 41% reduced efficiency compared to 2021 (0.41 m3 water withdrawn/tonne of ore). This reduced efficiency is attributed to additional slimes management at WCP A and WCP C, an extended pond size at WCP B, offpath slimes deposition and increased use of tail stackers. Water abstraction for our Namalope and Pilivili operations was in line with our regulatory water withdrawal limits in 2022. 90% of the total volume of water used is recycled or reused from the mining pond within the wet plants and dredgers.

Sewage treatment plants have been provided for the MSP, WCPs and accommodation village. The treatment plants each comprise a collector tank and pumping station, aerobic treatment unit, agitated aeration tank and sludge disposal to a sludge digestion pond.

A solid waste disposal facility has been installed, including a lined area for non-inert material.

Hazardous waste is disposed at an approved hazardous waste disposal site.

Total energy consumption in 2022 from all sources of energy including diesel consumption for heavy mobile equipment, transshipment vessels and light vehicles; grid energy from Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM); Dublin office energy; petrol and LPG was 466,322 MWh (2021: 451,489 MWh).

Renewable hydro-electric power supplied by EdM provided directly by the Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) dam makes up 50% of our total energy consumption. Total renewable electricity used during 2022 was 223,950 MWh (2021: 207,736 MWh).

Kenmare undertakes a number of environmental compliance programmes to manage and reduce our impact on the environment and our host communities.

This inlclude an air quality monitoring programme designed for the MSP which records ambient meteorological conditions, as well as the primary anticipated pollutants (inhalable particulates, total particulate matter, CO, CO2, NO and SO2). Dust monitoring of all areas were within the specified standards. All the bag-houses at the MSP are operational and no out of standard readings were recorded.

Monazite is a rare-earth mineral contained in the Kenmare mineral product suite, which contains naturally occurring radionuclides. Monazite makes up 18% of Kenmare’s Mineral Sands Concentrate. Kenmare’s radiation management plan helps ensure occupational exposure remains well below legal exposure limits and is compliant with national legislation, the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP), and IFC Performance Standards (2012). It covers monazite management through the mining process, as well as management of other radiation sources, which are used to monitor flow.

Radioactive gauges are used to monitor the radionuclides within the orebody. Procedures and protocols are in place to track the transportation of radioactive gauges. These include software to help track nuclear sources across the site. Moving a gauge involves securing it with a chain to permanent infrastructure during its transportation to the radiation container, with full assistance from a Radiation Protection Officer. All points that the gauge is secured to have densitometers which are monitored by the plant control room, so if one stops reading, the control room receives an alert.