On the face of it, mining and blueberries have little in common. But it’s thanks to the growing demand (15% year-on-year growth in 2024) for the tiny blue superfood that a project by SA mining company Pan African Resources to create extra employment for the community surrounding its Barberton Mines complex in Mpumalanga continues to bear fruit.

Established in 2021 in collaboration with agriculture advisory firm Primocane Capital, the now 45 ha Barberton Blue farm employs 22 permanent and hundreds of seasonal workers, who come from nearby Mbombela and neighbouring communities.

Investing R2.3 million to date in creating a parallel source of employment in the area is but one of the ways the mining company is fulfilling its corporate social investment (CSI) commitments as well as giving back  to the community that has supported Barberton Mines over its 140-year existence.

In July 2025, it also opened a community hall to serve the Fairview mining community in Mbombela. At the opening of the hall, Sibongile Makushe-Mazibuko, the executive mayor of the City of Mbombela, noted that the mining company had also donated the R15.3 million Cathyville Clinic to the community in 2021. ‘[The clinic] has been instrumental in bringing essential healthcare services closer to residents. Among other critical services, the clinic is well-equipped with consulting rooms, a mother-and-child programme, mental health services and HIV/Aids testing facilities.’

Graeme Wilkinson, the senior social investment specialist at Tshikululu Investments, says mining companies are beginning to place much more focus ‘on growing and supporting non-mining-related economic activity, and on building value chains outside mining within currently mining-dependent communities’.

‘A term we are encountering more and more is “building community resilience”, which seems to be aspiring to finding ways to reduce a host community’s dependencies on the one or two mines in their area in the short term, and the hope that this will also mitigate the risks of eventual mine closure in the long term,’ he says.

According to the 2025 Trialogue Business in Society handbook, which tracks CSI initiatives and responsible business practices in SA, Pan African Resources spent R20 million on CSI and local economic development (LED) initiatives in 2024/2025, mostly geared towards education, health, infrastructure and community development.

As a sector, mining remains one of the biggest contributors to CSI in SA. Trialogue reports that the basic materials sector, which includes mining, water, forestry and chemicals, accounted for the largest portion of CSI expenditure (36%) in 2025 (2024: 35%). That sector is represented by 29 companies, with a quick count revealing 13 of them as miners.

Anglo American’s share was $70 million (or about R1.3 billion), but that’s spread across its African operations, not just SA. Respondents to a Trialogue survey rate Anglo among the top five companies in SA with the most impactful CSI initiatives (it was rated fourth by companies and third by non-profit organisations).

‘By our estimation, mining firms in South Africa contribute around R4.5 billion a year to social development, for their SLP [social and labour plan] community projects as well as any additional CSI. So, they’re investing a lot,’ according to Trialogue director Cathy Duff.

She said in a recent interview that mining investment is largely targeted at infrastructure, education and enterprise development, ‘which includes support, training and mentorship for small enterprises and co-operatives even in fields not directly related to mining. Some of these small businesses are intended to graduate to become suppliers to the mining industry, but not all’.

In the 2025 Trialogue handbook, seven of the 13 miners list infrastructure as part of their CSI investment; 10 list health; 10 list education; and seven list community well-being or development.

Most mining CSI initiatives have been folded into the company’s SLPs, which they are required by law to submit to the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources every five years for the life of the mine.

‘We don’t speak much of CSI anymore. Social and labour plans are part of the licensing regime. It’s not a nice-to-have, it’s a requirement,’ says Alex Khumalo, head of social performance at the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA).

The MCSA believes the SLPs should be publicly available and has set up an online portal for members to post their documentation. Participation, however, is voluntary.

For example, according to the 2021–2025 SLP report for Glencore’s Rietvly silica mine near Rustenburg, North West, the mining company invested R12 million in paving dirt roads and upgrading stormwater drains in nearby Phokeng, and R5 million in drilling boreholes for water treatment. For the period under review, it was also targeting a total of more than R115 million in procurement from historically disadvantaged suppliers. The projects ranged from the supply of personal protective equipment to the provision of security. The value of Glencore’s CSI initiatives in SA alone is not listed in the Trialogue handbook, although its global total is given as $139 million.

‘Where the company has a stand-alone CSI or B-BBEE ownership vehicle (such as a grantmaking trust or community trust), the operations themselves tend to focus on the SLP commitments and leave the trust to respond to non-mandated community priorities,’ says Tshikululu’s Wilkinson.

According to Sibanye-Stillwater’s chief sustainability officer, Melanie Naidoo-Vermaak, the company’s investment through ‘the Sibanye Foundation, as well as through other CSI projects and SLPs, are highly impactful’, particularly for doorstep communities. ‘For example, the Sibanye Foundation, in partnership with the Gift of the Givers, recently built multi-purpose astroturf sports facilities at nine schools near its operations, giving thousands of youngsters an opportunity to play sports such as netball, volleyball and basketball. Sport is pivotal for social cohesion in communities.’

On the sustainability side, Sibanye-Stillwater’s approach to its CSI is ‘to deliver long-term benefits for the ecosystems’ in which it operates.

Two examples are Rand West Alien Trees (RWAT) and the Marikana Agri-hub. RWAT, a local company owned by four members of the Kloof mining community that started out as an SLP beneficiary, has helped government’s Working for Water programme to eradicate more than 2 000 ha of thirsty alien vegetation since 2018, saving almost 200 million litres of water. The agri-hub in Marikana, managed by the Mineworkers Development Agency, is involved in hydroponics, egg production and crop farming using sustainable farming practices. The egg-laying operation has proved to be particularly successful and is on the verge of scaling to commercial production with 7 000 eggs a day, with plans for the construction of a packing shed.

Trialogue lists Sibanye-Stillwater’s socioeconomic development spend in the SA region in 2024, excluding its SLP projects, as R374.5 million. If one includes the SLP spend, the total investment goes up to more than R2.7 billion, according to the miner’s 2024 integrated report. In the accompanying factsheet, it reported on the progress of 120 SLP projects on its mines in SA.

Naidoo-Vermaak says the company is also committed to ‘supporting the growth of modern mining towns’ at its operations. ‘Our approach focuses on the concurrent rehabilitation and responsible management of land and resources, while ensuring we enable more effective governance in our local structures by investing in local capacity building, training and development’.

To this end, in 2024, the mining company launched a leadership programme with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Wits Business School. And in February 2025, 20 traditional leaders from North West and Limpopo graduated from the programme with skills in corporate governance.

By contrast, Anglo American’s Foundation is concentrated on youth development and building economic opportunities. It has repurposed its former headquarters in the Johannesburg CBD, the iconic No 44 on Main, as a hub ‘where youth, creativity and technology meet’. A few days before the opening of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, the building reopened its doors to usher in a new chapter.

‘This is a place where young creators can explore ideas, build skills, try something new and express themselves in the heart of the CBD. Today gives us a glimpse of what that future can look like,’ Shingi Bimha, the foundation’s head of partnerships and programmes for Southern Africa, told guests, who were treated to an evening of art, dance and storytelling.

While the amount of money miners are pumping into CSI is large, its value is only as strong as its long-term impact.

‘It’s […] becoming much more common for the mining sector to need to answer a core question of impact measurement, “You spent all this money… so what?”,’ says Wilkinson. ‘There is certainly a greater professionalisation of CSI in the mining sector over the past decade, with the bigger (often global) mining houses driving considered social investment strategies, with theories of change and M&E [monitoring and evaluation] frameworks designed and resourced.’

For the Barberton Blue farm in Mpumalanga at least, impact is measured in tons – an average of 18 tons of blueberries per hectare (frost-dependent). R2.3 million well spent.

By  Robyn Leary
Image: iStock