Social capital is any value added to the activities and economic outputs of an organisation by human relationships, partnerships and cooperation.

Corporate social investment

The Venture

The Venture’s CSI spend for the 12-month period to December 2025 was R32 million (2024: R116 million). Merafe contributes to 20.5% of this spend.

This includes expenditure on inter alia enterprise and job creation projects, education and skills development, social and community development projects, health and wellness projects, strengthening of local institutions, environment initiatives and culture and art projects.

The Venture completed and handed over the following projects in 2025: TVET College in Mashishing with the construction of an additional eight lecture rooms; community halls in Ga‑Masha Nkotoane, Ga-Masha Ntake, Ga-Mampuru and community crèche in Kutullo Village Ngwaabe; classrooms and ablution facilities at the Steelpoort Academy School; the collaborative construction of a new four-lane concrete bridge (Steelbridge Project) in Limpopo; paved roads and the construction of a low-water bridge in Ga-Maepa and Ga-Phasha communities; Women in Mining, in partnership with CSR, mobilised employees to donate cash or sanitary towels resulting in over 20 000 sanitary towels distributed to host communities, addressing a critical need and supporting community wellbeing.

The Social Welfare programme has strengthened supportive school environments across the adopted schools. Through the Health, Sanitation and Sexuality Education, Moral Regeneration, and Visual Support Projects, learners have developed stronger values, better health awareness, and improved access to essential services.

Merafe’s interventions in Meriti and Boitekong are informed by a regular needs analysis exercise that the Foundation carries out in consultation with the schools.

Other initiatives at the schools that Merafe also supported via the Foundation included a coding and robotics programme as well as a school leadership advancement programme.

Enterprise development

The Venture

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in job creation in South Africa. Our commitment to their development is a cornerstone of Merafe and the Venture’s efforts to enhance the socio-economic capacity of our communities. This initiative also strengthens our procurement from black-owned enterprises. In alignment with the Mining Charter Scorecard, the Venture dedicated R5.6 million to enterprise development in 2025.

In our ongoing commitment to support SMEs, we have engaged with several capacity-building initiatives. Through strategic partnerships with the South African Institute of Business Science, we have focused on business and entrepreneurial development. We proudly support SMEs from Rustenburg, Brits and Steelpoort.

We have also prioritised creating business opportunities for local SMEs within our host communities. In cases where capacity is lacking, we implement a ring-fencing policy, partnering SMEs with established companies such as the Rekaofela Consortium, which specialises in underground secondary support.

Our supplier development efforts have included the donation of machinery and startup resources to SMEs. Additionally, we have contributed livestock, tractors, and established a fully operational PPE factory as part of our Enterprise Development programme. To further support our SMEs, we offer interest-free loans to those contracted to our operations.

Merafe

Merafe has provided funding of R18 million for an enterprise and supplier development fund, which supports SMEs through responsible investment to promote the growth and sustainability of black suppliers. Merafe has partnered with two service providers to identify black SMEs in local communities and provide support through various enterprise and supplier development funding initiatives.

Skills development and job creation

The Venture

The Venture recognises its commitment to employing local people whenever possible, which benefits both the Venture and the local communities. Direct employment at the Venture’s operations, indirect employment through contractors, and using local suppliers provides and income for thousands of families.

Our commitment to employing local people includes providing training opportunities and skills development that enable community members to meet the Venture’s competency requirements.

Our community portable skills development assisted 634 unemployed youth with skills in various areas such as road work repairs, brick making, plumbing, baking, basic computer skills, and beauty and cosmetic skills, which will give them the opportunity to pursue employment as entrepreneurs. We further introduced solar panel installation and maintenance, and are training emerging entrepreneurs at our local business incubation hubs as well as the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Merafe

Merafe is committed to empowering the future generation through our comprehensive bursary programme. In 2025, Merafe sponsored nine beneficiaries studying for various degrees including science and engineering fields. The bursary programme offers holistic support, including tuition fees, accommodation, a living stipend, stationery, textbooks and tutoring. The bursary programme extends beyond traditional financial aid and includes continuous learning through soft skills development, driving school lessons, leadership programmes, work readiness preparation, networking opportunities and holiday camps.

In addition to the above, Merafe funded career days to empower high school learners from Meriti and Boitekong. The purpose is to equip learners with tools to make informed career choices, make timely applications to tertiary education institutions, and give them the courage to pursue a successful life upon matriculating. These sessions at each school incorporated psychometric testing, motivational speaking and learning from experiences and insights shared by guest speakers and were both for grade 11 and grade 12 learners.

In 2025, Merafe formalised training programmes and partnered with a service provider offering one-year learnership (vocational) training. One abled and two disabled learners were enrolled in various SETA-accredited programmes, received a monthly stipend and gained experiential learning with host employers.

Public health and HIV and Aids

The Venture favours a united approach to public health, whereby we collaborate with government, international organisations and NGOs to make the most impact at community level. The public-private partnerships formed by the Venture provide communities access to prevention, treatment and care for HIV and Aids as well as communicable and associated diseases.

The Venture supports the government’s HIV counselling and treatment campaign by providing funding and testing sites. It has also funded health clinics and hospices in the communities in which it operates, including an HIV and Aids clinic in Lydenburg in Mpumalanga province. There is also a health clinic at the Lion ferrochrome plant in Limpopo province.

Respecting the rights of communities

Neither Merafe nor the Venture tolerate any form of discrimination, as our polices clearly state, and our employees and stakeholders are to be treated with dignity in a manner that is culturally appropriate, irrespective of gender, background or race.

Human rights and ethics

Merafe subscribes to the fundamental principles of human rights as enshrined in our country’s Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our policies and practices have been aligned with both to ensure that all our employees and stakeholders are treated with dignity and in a manner that is culturally appropriate, irrespective of gender, background or race. Furthermore, Glencore is a signatory to and has accepted the Voluntary Principles of Security and Human Rights.

Ethics

The Merafe Code of Ethics governs the way we do business and the way our directors and employees engage with our stakeholders. The code, which is binding on our directors, employees and contractors, provides guidelines for behaviour which is above reproach.

Merafe has a formal whistleblowing policy in place for the confidential reporting of any breaches of its Code of Ethics policy. There were no reports of any breaches in 2025.

Traditional authorities

Merafe is dedicated to supporting the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM) and adhering to the performance expectations related to Traditional Authorities. Through our proactive engagements with Traditional Authorities in the vicinity of our operations, we have successfully enhanced transparency, promptly addressed complaints and grievances, and fostered cooperation with neighbouring communities.

Stakeholder responsiveness

Merafe and the Venture address material issues we have identified that could impact negatively or positively on our key stakeholders. These stakeholders include national, provincial and local government in their roles as regulators and partners; the trade unions in their role as representatives of the Venture’s employees who are from local communities; and our investors and business partners who are affected by all aspects of our business. The impact of our most material issues in regard to the human, natural, social and manufactured capitals on our stakeholders, together with our responsiveness to these issues, is outlined in this report.

While Merafe has direct relationships with certain key stakeholders in connection with community matters, we also have indirect relationships through our partnership with Glencore in the Venture. As managers of the Venture’s day-to-day operations, Glencore takes responsibility for engaging with the Venture’s stakeholders.

All operations and projects within the Venture are required to annually review their stakeholder engagement plans, which encompass Traditional Authorities and other relevant stakeholder groups. Throughout the year, the Venture’s operations conducted formal community stakeholder meetings whenever possible. Additionally, virtual engagements were maintained where in-person was not possible to ensure continuous communication.

Our CSI and social labour plans are aligned to the objectives outlined in the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the National Development Plan for South Africa and the Integrated Development Plans for Local Municipalities.

All the Venture’s operations and projects are expected to review the stakeholder engagement plans every year. The Venture’s operations held formal community stakeholder meetings during the year.