As mining companies embark on new projects, inevitably, ESG risks and compliance requirements will escalate, necessitating the use of reliable reporting methods. Addressing this critical need, through a partnership with seasoned environmental and social advisory firm Kongiwe, ONYEN is set to revolutionise ESG reporting in 2025 with its cutting-edge AI-powered solution.
The Minerals Council of South Africa (MCSA) notes that the country’s mining companies invested hundreds of millions of dollars in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives in 2023, particularly in water conservation and biodiversity preservation. Now, buoyed by favourable commodity prices and improved confidence in the new Government of National Unity, investors are expected to loosen their tight purses, accelerating the development of greenfield and brownfield projects. Consequently, ESG spending is expected to increase. Elsewhere on the continent, a similar trend is unfolding; for example, ESG reporting is now mandatory for public companies in Zimbabwe.
Against this backdrop, ESG reporting has topped the agenda of recent high-profile discussions on mining in Africa, especially in support of reporting requirements for listed companies and attracting investment amongst juniors. Observing this development, Laurie Clark, CEO and founder of Onyen Corporation – a Toronto-headquartered, globally focused provider of ONYEN Risk, Compliance, and Sustainability reporting solutions – remarks: “It’s not just about gathering data but ensuring its relevance and quality. Poor data leads to flawed decision-making. Hence, sound reporting is essential. ONYEN’s solution identifies gaps, measures progress, and provides actionable insights – a unique and vital capability for the industry.”
Well-Placed
Encouraged by the response at the 2024 Investing in Mining Indaba, ONYEN is increasing awareness of its revolutionary ESG reporting software in the mining sector for 2025. The company is well-placed to meet the needs of its customers – junior, small, and mid-tier operations – after establishing a strategic partnership with Kongiwe Environmental, a globally renowned professional environmental and social science advisory based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Vancouver, Canada.
The partnership gives ONYEN a “boots-on-the-ground” presence in Africa. The company will be facilitating ONYEN’s ESG reporting solution for customers.
Keen to serve new customers, Clark describes Kongiwe as tailored to handle the unique challenges of the African mining environment. She is excited about the opportunities the partnership with the company will unlock: “Establishing a presence through a strategic partnership with Kongiwe’s local expertise in Africa gives us the ability to offer hands-on support beyond the resources industry.”
Overcoming Reporting Limitations
The AI-powered software overcomes the limitations of traditional ESG reporting solutions, offering convenience and cost-effectiveness, which enables compliance. This is evident in its unique features.
Convenience
With traditional reporting systems, accessing relevant data becomes a challenge for interested parties such as CEOs, investors, boards of directors, and rating agencies. On the other hand, as a SaaS/cloud solution, ONYEN provides a single panel of view on the website, which can be accessed as and when needed at any time. This simplifies reporting needs.
What’s more, one of the key things customers – of which there are now over one hundred in the mining industry – really like about the ONYEN product is how data is input once and then filters through to other applicable areas. The intelligent links are critical to ease of use. Users can also extract reports tailored to different reporting standards without having to re-input data. This is one of the strengths that give ONYEN a competitive advantage.
The product is designed with the same principles used in building trading and securities exchange systems – an area of expertise for ONYEN’s team, who have built many such systems globally. This offers unparalleled flexibility and precision in data management. Unlike traditional systems bound by standard reporting periods (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually), the ONYEN system is ‘period reporting agnostic.’ This means users can extract and analyse data for any custom period or date range, empowering them to create tailored insights for internal reviews or formal reports for regulatory and investor needs.
Moreover, Scorecard Templates are fully customisable to an organisation’s specific requirements, incorporating dynamic elements such as panels, graphs, and trend analyses. This ensures that all data entered is consistent, measurable, and ready to be presented in a format that suits both management and external stakeholders.
Even more, real-time dashboard alerts/updates eliminate errors related to inconsistent data, which result in dropped scores on the ONYEN scorecard report. The system is updated in real-time with ESG data from operational and onsite management systems. It summarises data and highlights variances above set thresholds, enhancing data accuracy.
Cost-Effectiveness
ONYEN Corporation has made its solution cost-effective through ease of setup and flexible pricing plans suitable for organisations, regardless of size or compliance reporting needs. Available plans include standard, advanced, and custom.
Compliance
In a nutshell, through convenience and cost-effectiveness, ONYEN offers the end user the following compliance-enhancing benefits:
- Collecting and controlling sustainability data for review by rating agencies.
- Engaging communities with updates, bulletins, and notices.
- Reducing errors with automatic data validation and proofing.
- Year-over-year analysis benchmarking performance comparisons with peers in size, industry, type, and more.
High sustainability scores have become one of the key factors in raising capital and a true barometer for a successful compliance system. Many customers have closed capital-raising rounds because of being on ONYEN. Investors are impressed with the measures, transparency of the data provided, and risk analysis shown. ONYEN drives capital to customers.
A Central Business Priority
By and large, ongoing developments in the resources sector indicate that ESG is not just a tick-box obligation but a central business priority. This shift is driving demand for convenient, cost-effective solutions like ONYEN that will help the industry achieve compliance.
The following points underline this trend:
- In its Mine 2024 report, consultancy PwC says that sustainability factors have become key in mergers and acquisitions decisions.
- SRK Consulting partner Wouter Jordaan notes that mining companies are increasingly considering ESG at the outset of mining operations, including planning for closure.
- A 2023 KPMG study found that failure to meet ESG reporting requirements was a major obstacle to the conclusion of half of all deals.
- During a panel discussion at the 2024 Sanlam ESG Conference, Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Environmental, Social, Governance, and Sustainability Committee Chairperson Professor Michael Solomon observed:
“With a global focus on a just energy transition, the mining sector faces various internal and external pressures to deliver on ESG, carbon neutrality, and abatement targets.” - Sound ESG reporting is now part of financial reporting, as governed by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) or the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S2 Sustainability Disclosure Standard (June 2023). Once voluntary, these – and many others -have become obligatory.
ONYEN Corporation, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, has satellite offices in Vancouver, Canada; Lagos, Nigeria; and Mexico City, Mexico. With Kongiwe Environmental, it also serves Sub-Saharan Africa.
Committed
Looking ahead, Clark vows that ONYEN Corporation is ready to meet the growing demand for reliable compliance and risk reporting solutions in the African mining sector in partnership with Kongiwe Environmental: “We are committed to helping mining companies eliminate guesswork and enhance accuracy in ESG reporting.”
