Social investment funding contributes to the health and well-being of Khoemacau’s workforce and surrounding communities. It also conveys sustainable development efforts by the project to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while responding to growing expectations by stakeholders that the needs of the local communities be met. Our partnerships with Project C.U.R.E. and the Khoemacau management team, along with our economic contribution, have helped advance the construction of a health clinic that will improve the community’s access to health services; in this way, it contributes to SDG 3, Good Health and Well-Being.
A site visit in 2019 to review project progress led to discussions with the CEO of the Khoemacau copper mine, Johan Ferreira, about the project’s ESG programs. After gaining a deeper understanding of the community’s lack of medical facilities and equipment, Royal Gold committed to financially supporting the completion of the construction of the Toteng Medical Clinic, which had been stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic; this facility would support the mine’s surrounding communities. Given our strong partnership with Denver-based Project C.U.R.E., the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies, equipment and services to doctors and nurses, we suggested that some of the clinic’s medical equipment could be secured through Project C.U.R.E.
After funding Project C.U.R.E.’s “needs assessment” site visit to Botswana in early 2022, Project C.U.R.E. determined that the facility would need to be able to serve as the main clinic for the communities of nearby villages, in addition to the mine workers. After many meetings with the Government of Botswana, Khoemacau and Project C.U.R.E. are getting closer to a final import approval to bring medical supplies and equipment into the country, but approval remains uncertain. The provision of supplies and equipment is crucial not only to helping increase the availability of services to almost 95% of the hospitals on their receiving end: in some circumstances, this provision will allow wages to be paid to staff rather than be redirected to purchasing supplies and equipment.
We worked with the Khoemacau team to identify areas in need and successfully contributed $200,000 to complete the construction at the Toteng Medical Clinic, including the water tanks, pumping and cooling systems and mechanical equipment required by a medical clinic. We continue to work with Project C.U.R.E. to obtain approval to ship used medical equipment to support the Toteng clinic.