This accomplishment reflects Anglo American's commitment to sustainability and transparency in its quest for the highest levels of responsible iron ore production.
"We are proud of our teams' efforts and the outstanding progress made across both of our operations to promote responsible mining practices,” said Mpumi Zikalala, chief executive of Kumba Iron Ore.
“We are dedicated to delivering premium quality iron ore products... while helping our customers meet the growing demand for responsibly sourced materials in an efficient and independently verified way."
Themba Mkhwanazi, Anglo American's regional director – Africa and Australia, added: “We are pleased that Kumba is the first iron ore producer in Africa to complete the IRMA audit, providing stakeholders with a way of accounting for sustainability practices that is transparent, verifiable, and comparable."
Mkhwanazi also noted the importance of the Anglo American digital traceability platform, Valutrax, for customers.
The IRMA scoring system uses four performance levels: IRMA Transparency, IRMA 50, IRMA 75, and IRMA 100.
The highest level signifies full compliance with requirements in each section of the Standard for Responsible Mining. IRMA's rigorous certification process was developed over a decade with input from diverse stakeholders.
