Community Engagement - A Firm that Learns

Anvil's collaboration with nearby communities aims to build self-sufficiency in the local and regional economies. The first step for Anvil has always been dialogue and meaningful engagement, and the participation of all stakeholders in planning for poverty reduction and future prosperity. Only when members have agreed on a strategy and communities have endorsed a program of development will the program be implemented. It may be small loans or support for innovative farming practices, water wells or clinics. What is important from Anvil's perspective is to initiate and promote social and community development projects that have broad-based community support.

Anvil has financed the construction or refurbishment of nine schools (over 4,000 students) in the vicinity of its mine developments. Hospitals have been remodelled at two locations. Medical clinics have been built. An extensive water project in Katanga brings clean water to a  medium-sized city. Where possible, Anvil gives the highest priority to programs that will, themselves, generate resources. Microfinance schemes, markets, roads (over 100 km of road refurbishment work - the Kinika Bridge), city water schemes and innovative farming projects (5,400 small-scale farmers covering over 510 ha) are some of the programs that Anvil has financed. These projects have community support and have been explicitly designed for sustainability, building productivity and entrepreneurship, trade and improving community health and well-being.

Anvil has committed itself, from the beginning, to a philosophy of development that puts the emphasis on mobilizing locally for building long-term prosperity. The Company has disbursed over $22 million in social investments over nine years and the programs will grow as returns from the Kinsevere SX-EW plant grow.

Temporary cutbacks to Anvil's production in 2008-2009 have reduced the scope of social programs. During this period, Anvil was forced to reduce staff and curtail expenditures. But it  has continued to meet its original commitments to communities around its operations. These commitments remain a high priority. For 2010, the Company distributed over $0.8 million for social programs. As Anvil moves to restore production to its previous levels, the Company looks forward to building on the lessons it has learned over the past years, to make social and community development investments ever more effective.

Anvil's success in maintaining a program of sustainable development with demonstrable results depends on the Company's capacity to learn. Corporate transparency, openness in its operations and a commitment to regular assessment of its performance in meeting high social responsibility standards are fundamental to Anvil's approach.

At the end of 2010, the Company embarked on a program designed to embed the principles contained in the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) into the cultures of Anvil and two other foreign companies operating in the same general region of the Katanga Copperbelt. This important work is being led by Anvil and will involve the office of the Governor of Katanga, the DRC provincial military and police. This is industry-leading work designed to improve the investment climate for all investors in the Katanga province.

Inquiry, regular reporting and stringent transparency measures are now cornerstones of Anvil policy. Since June 2010, the Company has been a supporting member of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) which requires supporting corporations to report all government payments. This represents a further step taken following the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Charter adopted by the Board of Directors in 2007, which articulates how it expects to meet its corporate social responsibilities.