Placer Dome has won a Development Marketplace Innovation award from the World Bank for a project aimed at helping mineworkers and their families cope with AIDS in southern Africa.
The award was presented by World Bank President James Wolfensohn at a ceremony in Washington D.C.
Wayne Dunn, whose firm Wayne Dunn & Associates works with the mining industry on social development projects, says mining companies recognize that they have a responsibility to help communities near their operations.
Dunn, who worked on the Placer project, adds that “companies that don’t meet the challenge of creating meaningful local value will face increased risk as local communities and international [non-government organizations] take them to task.”
Knowns as “AIDS Campaign Team Mining,” the project was one of 34 winners selected from more than 2,400 proposals from 122 countries.
The company is working to provide family members of mineworkers suffering from AIDS with supplies and training for home care. Most mineworkers come from remote villages where there are no medical services.
The project is a partnership between Placer and the Employment Bureau of Africa. The annual competition awards projects that demonstrate innovation in reducing global poverty.
Placer operates the South Deep underground gold mine in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa. It employs about 4,500 people and 1,400 contractors.
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