By Alexandra Wexler and Alistair MacDonald
Mining companies are throwing their weight behind vaccination
efforts as Covid-19 continues to ravage much of the developing
world.
Miners are offering vaccines and bolstering healthcare services
to employees and surrounding communities. The effort is focused on
poorer nations, where healthcare systems are weak, vaccines are
scarce and inoculation campaigns lag far behind those in the West.
Anglo American PLC has said it is spending as much as $30 million
to support the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines across its
footprint. Other miners, from Glencore PLC to Rio Tinto PLC, have
been offering support to local governments during the pandemic,
from conducting screening and mobile testing to donating extra beds
for hospitals and clinics.
Miners, often cast as villains by locals who say their
activities destroy landscapes and cause harmful pollution, are
welcoming vaccine programs as a chance to soften their image. The
strategy is particularly potent in commodity-rich markets in
Africa, where just 0.5% of the 1.5 billion population has received
a vaccine, compared with 63% of Americans.
By helping governments administer the shots, many companies hope
they can rapidly rescale production depressed by the pandemic at a
time when the prices of many commodities are surging as U.S. and
Chinese demand rebounds.
Production of most commodities is still subdued or lower this
year than in the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. While
production of lithium is up by a third compared with 2019, platinum
is 11% lower and copper and nickel are only 1% higher, according to
the investment bank Liberum. Prices for many commodities are
soaring, thanks in large part to the supply imbalance.
"Almost for the first time people have got a sense of what
mining companies do in their communities," said Mark Cutifani,
chief executive of mining giant Anglo American. Anglo's support
package includes $10 million earmarked for South Africa's national
Covid-19 vaccine program, including purchasing vaccines, offering
logistical support and the use of the company's health facilities
to administer vaccines to its more than 45,000 employees, their
families and surrounding communities.
In November, Russia's No. 1 gold producer, Polyus PJSC, launched
a campaign to vaccinate its employees and contractors under the
country's Sputnik program, starting with the top brass in Moscow.
Since January, the company has ramped up its efforts to its
far-flung mines with a large-scale information campaign that
includes posters, brochures and meetings.
In March, Stepan Belokopytov finished his shift as a foreman at
one of the world's most remote mines in Siberia, washed up, waited
in a short line and received his first Covid-19 vaccination.
"Then I came home, turned on the TV. In the morning I woke
up...got dressed, went to work," he said. "I felt great."
Governments and communities leaning on miners for help also
marks a swift turnaround from the start of the pandemic when locals
and officials in countries including the Philippines, Panama and
Canada singled out these companies as potential spreaders of the
virus and forced some operations to close down.
In April of last year, the government of Panama ordered
Canada-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd. to close a large copper
mine there, days after a public backlash against plans to continue
to mine amid the pandemic. In northern Colombia, locals blockaded a
mine operated by Glencore.
Newmont Corp., the world's largest gold miner, has provided
funds to support a local vaccination campaign for workers and
community members at one of its mines in Mexico. In Ghana, the
company ran a vaccination clinic in its town hall for workers and
contractors.
"Mining companies are well-placed to support the vaccine
program," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an online
address during Investing in African Mining Indaba, an industry
conference, in February. "The health and safety of mine workers
remains a priority, but this must also apply to the mine workers'
families."
Some miners with operations in the developing world say they are
willing to pay for doses, but national authorities are still
struggling to obtain vaccines.
Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd., the world's No. 1 platinum producer,
says it is making preparations to vaccinate up to 18,000 people a
day, if the South African government makes the vaccine available to
it. The company says it is in discussions with vaccine suppliers.
Sibanye-Stillwater estimates it could shell out 200 million South
African rand, equivalent to $14.74 million, for the vaccines, plus
another 50 million South African rand to administer them to its
approximately 84,775 employees and contractors, along with their
families and the communities surrounding their mines.
"For us to operate efficiently and smoothly, we need to minimize
the disruptions due to things like lockdown," said Neal Froneman,
chief executive at Sibanye-Stillwater. "Being part of a vaccination
program makes complete business sense."
Industry watchdogs, which typically spotlight miners' checkered
records on worker safety, pollution and tax contributions, have
applauded miners for expanding vaccine access in areas where shots
are scarce.
At the same time, miners' efforts "can't help but be
self-serving," said Jamie Kneen, communications and outreach
coordinator at MiningWatch Canada, an industry watchdog, because it
supports business continuity and decreases disruptions at
operations.
Boipelo Bonokwane, African regional coordinator for the
Coalition Against Pandemic Mining, a group of watchdogs and
nonprofits monitoring mining activities during Covid-19, says
mining companies have a duty of care, especially after their
businesses were declared as essential services in many countries,
amid nationwide lockdowns.
"Mine workers and their families are then exposed to the virus,"
she said. "A lot of miners live in conditions that make them far
more vulnerable to the pandemic."
Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. has donated about 2.5
million Australian dollars ($1.94 million) and logistical support
to Unicef to support the rollout of the vaccine -- provided to the
government via Covax, a multibillion-dollar program started by the
World Health Organization to immunize the world -- in the New
Ireland province of Papua New Guinea.
"The response to Covid-19 is everybody's business," Julius Chan,
governor of New Ireland, said in a Unicef and Newcrest press
release. "It affects all of us, regardless of gender, social
status, race or religion."
Rhiannon Hoyle and Georgi Kantchev contributed to this
article.
Write to Alexandra Wexler at alexandra.wexler@wsj.com and
Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 12, 2021 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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