KCC are committed to operating safely and believes all fatalities, occupational diseases and injuries at work are preventable.

The KCC Health and Safety programme focuses on identifying and managing hazards in the workplace. The programme is based on the Glencore SafeWork programme, which aims to provide everyone with the knowledge and tools to perform their tasks safely.
 

We are active in the construction of new – and rehabilitation of existing – health facilities, and the training of local medical staff. KCC also contributes to health awareness initiatives in communities, provides periodic medicine donations and assistance to vaccination campaigns in local urban and rural areas.

KCC has a medical facility, Watu Wetu, which provides healthcare services to employees and their dependents. 

KCC’s goal is to reduce the impact of malaria on our communities.

Every year KCC undertakes a comprehensive programme to protect our host communities from malaria. This includes:

• insecticide spray campaigns across our host communities
• distribution of insecticide-treated nets
• awareness campaigns on preventative measures and early diagnosis of infections 
   

KCC contributes material and technical support to the National Programme against HIV (PNMLS). We have supported the construction of new PNMLS facilities, training of medical staff and organisation of HIV awareness campaigns.

KCC recognises it has the potential to impact human rights directly through our operations, and indirectly through our relationships with joint ventures, contractors and suppliers. Our commitment to human rights is guided by Glencore’s Human Rights Policy and Standard to support our efforts to ensure risks and impacts on neighbouring communities and ecosystems are monitored on an ongoing basis. We are committed to respecting human rights and actively support our workforce, business partners and suppliers to understand and meet this commitment in line with our Responsible Sourcing Standard, and Code of Conduct. 

KCC has undertaken a third-party human rights due diligence process. The process responds to Glencore’s Human Rights Standard and supports us in identifying the salient human rights issues affecting our operations, building internal awareness of human rights opportunities and challenges, and demonstrates to our stakeholders our commitment to human rights. 

Furthermore, we are committed to applying the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) in the DRC where public and private security forces are engaged. 

KCC has appropriate complaints and grievance processes in place , which consider the United Nations’ Guiding Principles (UNGPs) effectiveness criteria. Multiple channels (email, hotline, online platform) encourage our workforce and contractors to raise concerns with us without fear of retaliation. 

In parallel, community grievance management is supported through local engagements, complaint boxes and conflict mediation committees with traditional and community leaders. 

We commit to investigating all concerns in a manner that respects the rights of the complainant to respect and protect the human rights of our workforce and communities at KCC.  

We respect the dignity and human rights of our workforce and our business partners, societies in which we live and work, and all others who may be affected by our activities. We expect our business partners to share our commitment and we leverage our business relationship to advance human rights.

Inclusion and diversity are essential to, and an integral part of, our business. We respect and value every employee and create a fair, supportive and inclusive working environment where people with diverse experiences and perspectives can develop and fulfil their potential. We prohibit unlawful discrimination on any basis. We do not tolerate any form of harassment or behaviour that is offensive, abusive or demeaning.

We respect our workforce’s right to the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining and we foster transparent and collaborative labour relations.

We do not tolerate child labour, any form of forced, compulsory or bonded labour, human trafficking or any other form of slavery and actively seek to identify and eliminate them from our supply chain.

We promote fair recruitment and employment practices so that all work is voluntary and fairly compensated.

We recognise our role as a custodian of the environment and are committed to identifying opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint. We are committed to protecting and conserving land, water, biodiversity and energy sources and are required to comply with Glencore’s environmental standards and policies and those of the DRC.

We have implemented a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme which covers surface water, groundwater, dust, air quality and noise. This monitoring, along with assessments of our flora and fauna habitats, is carried out on a regular basis and at various locations in and around KCC's operations.

KCC is working in partnership with the University of Lubumbashi to support a reforestation and agroforestry project.

The project involves growing native miombo seedlings at KCC that will be planted at Ngonzo, a 2,000-hectare concession located four kilometres from KCC. The project aims to set up reforested areas where the miombo species from the KCC nursey will be conserved, establish an agroforestry plot for miombo trees and support building sustainable agriculture capabilities for local community members.

KCC has contributed to the DRC economy since the beginning of its operations by investing and supporting the National Development Strategy with a focus on healthcare, sustainable livelihoods, education and infrastructure.

KCC has committed to investing USD$ 40 million, starting in 2023, in line with its first ‘Cahier de Charges’ (2022 -2026), covering infrastructure, education, electrification, agriculture, and health. This investment is non-discretionary and committed by KCC as a consequence of operational licensing commitments in the DRC.

In addition, the 2018 DRC Mining Code requires that mines earmark 0.3% of their annual turnover to finance community development projects in areas affected by their operations. This funding is managed by specialized bodies known as DOTs (Organismes Spécialisés), responsible for implementing community development projects.

KCC also supports several discretionary social contribution initiatives. Our aim is to partner with communities, civil society organisations and community development specialists, to share knowledge, build capacity and contribute to enduring social and economic outcomes in the communities where we operate.

Above all, we strive to build respectful relationships with our neighbouring communities. We aim to communicate openly with local community stakeholders to understand and address their concerns and contribute to activities and programmes designed to improve the quality of life and enhance sustainable livelihoods.

KCC’s community development programmes (CDPs) are integral to our community and engagement strategies to foster resilient socio-economic communities. The aim is to support vulnerable and low-income households in improving their sources of income. 

Through the CDPs, individual households can organise into small associations, setting up farming co-operatives producing food crops or raising livestock (such as poultry and pigs) as well as trade businesses (such as welding, carpentry, cutting and sewing, hairdressing, and restaurants businesses). KCC also provides a range of training opportunities to enable these associations to improve their skills and become self-sustaining.
 

KCC seeks to support enterprises owned by DRC citizens in developing and growing their businesses.

We consider our suppliers to be vital stakeholders in our business and strive to develop close working relationships with them, to support them in growing their own businesses and help them contribute local economic development.
KCC’s Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) is responsible for managing procurement from local DRC suppliers at KCC. 

All goods and services tenders are examined for their suitability to advance the development of local Congolese-owned businesses in line with the KCC Local Procurement and EDP policy. This policy encourages procurement from enterprises with minimum Congolese ownership of 51% and annual turnover up to US$5 million.

KCC invest in improving education in the communities surrounding our operations by:

• building or financially supporting the construction and renovation of schools and academic institutions
• donating teaching materials and equipment 
• supporting teacher development programmes

KCC supports vocational training for community members through courses that include boiler making, machine driving, auto mechanics, air conditioning and tailoring.

KCC supports these projects in partnership with the relevant local authorities.

Responsible sourcing is our commitment to take into account social, ethical and environmental considerations when managing our relationships with suppliers through our supply chain and procurement strategies. 

KCC does not buy, source, or process any ASM or third-party feed. We support efforts to establish greater transparency in the value chain. 

For cobalt, KCC has been assured under the Responsible Minerals Initiative’s (RMI) Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) and recently completed The Copper Mark assurance programme process (RRA 3.0). This achievement acknowledges alignment of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies and processes with global standards, and demonstrates our commitment to internationally recognised responsible production practices. 

We believe that legitimate Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) can play an important and sustainable role in the DRC economy when carried out responsibly and transparently. In line with laws of the DRC, the way in which illegal small-scale and semi-industrial mining is carried out presents significant challenges for our operations endangering human health, safety, security and the environment.  

As part of our efforts to support legitimate ASM to be as responsible as possible, we: 

• are a founding member of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) 
• continuously engage local communities, the DRC Government, the OECD, civil society and other key stakeholders, including our customers on responsible mining  
• have a zero-tolerance approach for any form of child labour or forced labour we work to tackle the socio-economic root causes that contribute to the high prevalence of child labour, specifically focusing on improving access to school and seasonal support programs
• promote employment creation to diversity local livelihoods and provide support to legitimate ASM cooperatives to reduce risks and encourage progressive compliance with relevant DRC laws.