1. HERO for South
Africa's Miners
Team 18
Emily Briskin Jessica Lopez
Christina Chandra Teja Padma
Rachel Kubi
Karen Zhang
2. HERO
A partnership program to improve the
Health, Environment, and Rights of South
African mining workers
3. HERO: the Model
Corporations Health
Monetary
Partnership
Government Environment
HERO Seal
Awareness
Community Human Rights
4. HERO Seal: A Social Incentive
Involve South Africans
and their global allies
in advocacy and
activism
Build awareness and
support for the HERO
Seal worldwide
5. HERO: Health
Problems Strategies Benefits
TB prevalence of Pool government and corporate funding to
up to 50% in build healthcare centers Healthier, happier
miners workers
Train community members to become
Silicosis nurses and community health-care workers Cash rewards and
prevalence of up to improved
Recognize companies that meet worker- productivity
25% in miners
health standards by certifying them with
The HERO Seal and providing Cash on Create new Job
HIV prevalence of
Delivery incentives for achieving key Opportunities
up to 30% in health outcomes such as:
miners
Outcome-focus
-10% yearly decrease in HIV incidence gives flexibility in
Spread of illness -80% of HIV+ workers on ARV treatment methods used
when miners travel -20% yearly decrease in TB prevalence
home -95% of TB+ workers on DOTS therapy
6. HERO: Environment
Problems Strategies Benefits
Pilot a program that treats acid mine Net monetary gain
drainage and use treated drainage water to
Acid Mine generate electricity Reduce acidity in
drinking water
Drainage (AMD)
Corporates can be self-sustained to run supply source
from gold mines the program after the start year
makes public Eliminate
water supply 10% of generated profits will be paid back abandonment of
acidic to the government mines
Corporations who meet environmental Company image
improvement standards will receive the benefits from
HERO Seal recognition with
HERO Seal
7. HERO: Human Rights
Problems Strategies Benefits
Increase awareness
Lack of human Media and Advocacy campaign around the and enhance
rights awareness HERO Seal corporate image
Create an online space under HERO Empower workers
Low worker
where workers can submit complaints, and improve
Satisfaction which would be incorporated into new transparency
Samrad (South African Mineral Regulation
277 mining Administration) online system Decrease
deaths in 2008- prostitution
2009 Provide housing units for miners to live
with wives and chidren Wives can serve as
Men separated community health
from their families workers
8. HERO: Limitations
Mining Companies might not want to accept the
program: we combat this using monetary incentives
and the HERO Seal
Current laws are not well enforced, our policies fill in
these gaps, but the current laws remain weak
What about smaller mining companies: we are
addressing the biggest corporations first to reach the
greatest number of workers for our initial investment
10. HERO: Advantages
An integrated, comprehensive, and self-sustainable
program
Higher non-salary benefits with out laying burden on
mining corporations
Improve welfare at lower costs
Industrial level competition promotes efficiency
12. Appendix: Why Invest in the Mining
Sector?
• "In October Gill Marcus, governor of the central bank, said that the past
two months had hurt South Africa’s reputation as a place to invest... “The
outlook at the moment is deteriorating rapidly,” she said. " (The Economist-
"Over the Rainbow" 2012)
• "Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third-
biggest gold producer, says the strikes in the mining industry could lead his
company to shrink its operations in South Africa." (The Economist- "Over
the Rainbow" 2012)
• With the mining sector contributing to up to 18% of South Africa's GDP
(both directly and indirectly), we cannot afford for the situation to
deteriorate further and for companies to leave South Africa (given in case
information)
13. Appendix: Why train nurses and
community health workers?
• “Chronically poor education means that thousands of jobs go unfilled.
Almost half the 95,000 or so nursing jobs in the public sector are vacant,
according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.”(The
Economist- "Over the Rainbow" 2012)
• "But are doctors and nurses necessary to improve rural health? Two very
successful programs in desperately poor parts of India’s Maharashtra state
say no. SEARCH (the Society for Education,Action and Research in
Community Health), in the district of Gadchiroli, and the Comprehensive
Rural Health Project, in the district of Jamkhed, both recruit ordinary
women to take care of their villages’ health. They have had a huge impact
on the health and prosperity of their villages." (Tina Rosenberg, New York
Times; http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/villages-without-
doctors/ )
14. Appendix: Cost Effectiveness of TB
Treatments
Example: China implementing WHO recommended DOTS
Impact:
China achieved a 95 percent cure rate for new cases within two years of
adopting DOTS, and a cure rate of 90 percent for those who had previously
undergone unsuccessful treatment. The number of people with TB declined by
over 37 percent in project areas between 1990 and 2000, and 30,000 TB
deaths have been prevented each year.
Cost and Cost-Effectiveness:
• Successful treatment cost less than $100 per person. (World Bank and WHO
estimates)
• One healthy life was saved for an estimated $15 to $20
• Economic rate of return of $60 for each dollar invested.
• The World Bank ranks DOTS as one of the most cost-effective of all health
interventions.
Source: Center for Global Development
http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_archive/millionssaved/studies/case_3
15. Appendix: How Cost-Effective are
primary healthcare centers?
• Illness lowers worker productivity and drains household assets
• “Most primary health care interventions are highly cost-effective, costing
less than US$100 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) gained.”
Source:
Disease Control Priorities Project, 2007:
http://www.dcp2.org/file/77/DCPP_PrimaryHealthCare.pdf
17. Appendix: Percent on ARV
Treatment
• A study based in two Durban clinics found most patients were tested at a
late stage of infection with over 60 percent of CD4 counts below 200. Of
these patients just 42 percent had begun treatment within 12 months.
Source: Avert
http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
18. Appendix: Are seals/certifications
effective?
• According to the BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, 90% of Americans
are more likely to buy from companies that manufacture energy efficient
products, promote health and safety benefits (88%), support fair labor and
trade practices (87%), and commit to environmentally-friendly practices
(87%)
• 82% of consumers still purchased green or environmentally friendly
products and services in 2009—which sometimes cost more—even in the
midst of the US recession
Sources:
BBMG Conscious Consumer Report
http://www.fmi.org/docs/sustainability/bbmg_conscious_consumer_white_pape
r.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Green Seal and EnviroMedia Social Marketing Report
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/02/05/82-percent-of-consumers-buy-green-
despite-economy/
19. Appendix: Key players who look for
the seal
• Shareholder returns have always been one of the mostimportant business
driving forces. More recently, some shareholder groups have also started
showing an interest in socially responsible investment. This trend may
influence future business dealings of companies as investors start to avoid
companies with an unacceptable social and environmental record.
• The mining and minerals sector is mainly financed by commercial banks
with additional funding provided by international institutions such as the
World Bank, International Finance Corporation and the regional
development banks. Like shareholders, they are also increasingly
becoming interested in ethical and socially responsible investment,
screening companies on their environmental and social performance.
• Insurers of companies in the mining and minerals sector will be interested
in a good overall economic, environmental and social performance. They
are particularly concerned about potential environmental liabilities related to
mine closure and beyond, especially in countries following the ‘polluter
pays’ principle.
Source: Azapagic, Adiza. “Developing a framework for sustainable development indicators for the
mining and minerals industry.” Journal of Cleaner Production 12 (2004) 639–662.
21. Appendix: Acid Mine Drainage
• Neutralization treatment will cost up to 5 Rand (less than $1 USD) per cubic meter (1,000
liters). More thorough treatments, like reverse osmosis or ion exchange, remove more heavy
metals, but could cost up to 15 Rand (a little more than $2 USD) per cubic meter. If 350 million
liters per day will require treatment, the costs add up. Pumping and managing the influx of
water into the mines are expensive as well, especially if undertaken indefinitely.
• By 2002, Harmony had transferred the mine to Rand Uranium, in which Harmony holds a 40
percent stake. Under South African law, the company was not required to have a mine closure
plan in place, but a company that took over a mine, whether it was operational or not, was
responsible for its environmental liability.
• Even if responsible parties could be identified, Liefferink adds, a legacy of lax environmental
regulation, especially under apartheid, makes it difficult to hold former mine owners financially
responsible for damage caused by mine closure. “The new mining companies are like the last
man standing,” she says. “They now have to carry the cost of 120 years of irresponsible mining;
but the gold-mining industry is in decline and [these new mining companies] do not feel they
can pay.”
Source:http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/all-glitters-acid-mine-drainage-toxic-legacy-gold-mining-south-
africa
22. Appendix:
Antrim Micro-hydro power project
• The plant costs $3 million dollars a year to sustain itself, but the DEP
projects it will make $10 million
http://www.biomost.com/pub/Antrim/Antrim%20Press%20Article%2008.pdf
• In 2008, BCWA received a $428,710 DEP Energy Harvest Grant to install
two hydroelectric turbines on the Antrim treatment plant discharge. In May,
BioMost Inc. completed construction, which includes an impoundment that
collects treated water from the plant; 1,000 feet of pipeline; and a power
house with two 20-kilowatt turbines.
http://pa-erg.com/2012/07/19/pennsylvania-plant-using-treated-mine-water-to-generate-power/
• The Micro-hydro plant creates renewable energy with no air or water
polution
http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/580913/State-DEP-secretary-on-hand-as-Antrim-micro-hydro-
plant-begins-unique-operation.html?nav=5011
23. Appendix: Housing Regulations
• April 2009 Department of Minerals and Energy’s Report on Housing and
Living Conditions Standard, written as a supplement to the Mineral and
Petroleum Act and 1996 Constitution: ‘Poor living conditions in single-sex
hostels…has also contributed largely to the spread and provenance of
HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa’
Source:
http://www.bullion.org.za/Departments/Legal/Downloads/2010/gg32166_nn445.
pdf
24. Appendix: Human Rights
• It’s in the company’s best interest to promote human rights, because
workers with adequate human rights supports and good working conditions
are less likely to strike and optimize profits. A recent strike by Gold Fields
resulted in the company losing ~4000 ounces of platinum per day.
Source: Nov 6 Mail & Guardian, http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-06-work-at-
gold-fields-resume-but-mine-strikes-not-over-yet
