Precious metals refinery Rand Refinery has published its 2025 Sustainability Report, which showed a 24% reduction in total energy consumption since 2021 to 24.5 GWh in 2024 and a 13 500 kilotons reduction in CO₂ generated, as well as the installation of energy-efficient technologies and development of a 4.5 MW solar plant.

The report covers three years’ performance and highlights that its operations are currently 80% powered by the solar energy and will be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2027, says Rand Refinery CEO Praveen Baijnath.

Rand Refinery promotes the use of solar technologies at work and enhances adoption by offering interest-free loans to employees to install solar panels at their homes, he adds.

Despite South Africa’s ongoing energy challenges, the company has successfully avoided any negative impact of loadshedding on its operations, the report shows.

Water conservation has also been a priority, with consumption reduced by 23.4% since 2021 to 55 473 kℓ in 2024, surpassing the company's water-saving target and charting a course towards a total of 44% reduction in water use by 2027.

The current focus is on eliminating any effluent and starting work on harvesting practices, says Baijnath.

“These industrial activities towards net water savings can reduce load on an already strained water supply in the region and could benefit thousands of homes. The relevance of such initiatives owing to scarcity in South Africa has a far greater impact,” he adds.

Separately, Rand Refinery has helped to ensure that the nearby Germiston Lake, in Gauteng, remains pollution-free to preserve biodiversity and it is in the process of planting 400 indigenous trees in nearby schools.

Meanwhile, the company's health and safety programmes have shown excellent results. It has exceeded three and a half years of operation without a lost-time injury, with no reportable cases or occupational diseases that can be ascribed to operations, the report shows.

The refinery also has a wellness strategy through which it prioritises wellness and wellbeing, with support also extended to associates and essential contractors onsite.

Rand Refinery has also invested R3-million in gender-based violence safe-house Mercy Haven, in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, that supports survivors of abuse with recovery, restoration and societal reintegration.

The company also funded and established a dedicated gender-based violence safe-room at the Germiston Police Station, which creates a safe and confidential sanctuary for women and children in crisis.

Further, it has invested more than R43-million in education, skills development, and entrepreneurship initiatives. The company spent R6.5-million to renovate infrastructures at primary and high schools, as well as donated stationery, school shoes, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics libraries to various secondary schools across the nine provinces.

It also helps to ensure sufficient information and communications technology equipment is in place in these institutions to improve administration, and it provides hygiene equipment.

Since 2021, Rand Refinery has provided R8.4-million in bursaries and has supported 95 students and nurturing a pipeline of future industry talent.

“Each initiative reflects our belief that community investment is not charity; it is a partnership for the long term. Our products must leave their glitter not in vaults, but in classrooms, clinics, communities, universities, with small business entrepreneurs and the environment,” says Baijnath.

“This report is more than a record of environmental data points or governance metrics; it is a statement of intent. It reaffirms our belief that gold refined responsibly has the power to uplift communities, protect the planet, and drive long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he says.

Meanwhile, the refinery also introduced RandPure, which has enabled verified ethical sourcing, while its participation in the Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) initiative and the integration of cutting-edge digital technologies ensure gold is both responsibly sourced and digitally traceable.

It also adopted the Bullion Integrity Ledger, which is a blockchain-powered distributed ledger solution, provides end-to-end visibility from mine to market, and which strengthens trust across the global value chain.

In May 2024, Rand Refinery joined the aXedras platform and went live on the GBI platform in August of that year.

By April this year, it had published more than 1 700 provenance records on the system to ensure transparency and environmental, social and governance-compliant products.

Through strategic investments in cutting-edge technologies, Rand Refinery is committed to responsible sourcing and socioeconomic empowerment, Baijnath says.