People and Environment
Our People
The people involved throughout our business are what make it a success.
Our hardworking, highly skilled and passionate team come from multiple nationalities and diverse professions, sharing our values wherever they live in the world – from Africa to our head office in the UK and everywhere in between.
The safety and wellbeing of our team is our priority.
We strive for a zero-harm environment and fully abide by the regulations of each country. Extensive safety training is provided to employees, appropriate PPE is issued, risk assessments are standard procedure and a fully transparent incident, accident and near-miss reporting system is in use at all operational sites. ISO14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO45001 (Health & Safety Management) are international level certifications that our operations are working to achieve.
Our employees at our operational sites have access to exercise facilities and recreational areas.
We provide performance-based bonuses and recruit locally wherever possible, and support unionised working to ensure employees are able to raise the issues that matter to them most.
Minimising the Environmental Impact of Gemstone Mining
We are realistic and open about the impact of mining on the environment.
Our mining operations are all open-pit, which means there are no caves, tunnels or mine shafts which often present unsafe conditions. Before mining, we collect seeds of indigenous plants and trees from the topsoil and create a seed bank. These plants grow in a nursery until they are strong enough for replanting. We save the nutrient-rich topsoil.
Once gemstone-bearing rocks have been extracted, the open-pits are filled with matter from the next section, in a process called “back-filling”.
This process minimises environmental disturbance. The back-fill is overlaid with the top-soil, which we also save, and replanted with the vegetation grown in our nurseries. With the powerful sun and nutrient-rich rainfall, it does not take long for the seedlings and plants to return the land to a lush green.
Our operations comply with prevailing national regulations that govern mining and the environment and are regularly audited to ensure compliance.
This covers how waste is managed, the use and storage of diesel on site, the clean-up of contaminated land and the rehabilitation of areas that are no longer mined. Often our standards exceed those required by regulation, and we challenge ourselves to improve our systems and reduce our impact further.
We conduct both environmental and biodiversity studies to monitor our impact. We do not use chemicals that are hazardous to health. We use solar power for residential blocks and we recycle the water used in our wash-plants. We are also calculating our carbon footprint and will look at ways to reduce this over time.