EXTENT OF SUSTAINABILITY ASSURANCE IN SOUTH AFRICAN MINING COMPANIES

This paper examined whether selected South African mining companies obtain sustainability report assurance and whether the sustainability reports are internally or externally assured. The methodological approach is a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis of assurance elements in sustainability reports. Findings indicate that a considerable number of mining companies are complying with the requirements of the King III assurance requirement; however, there is still room for improvement mostly in the external assurance requirement. The study finds that the lack of external assurance from some firms may stem from apparent optional nature of sustainability guidelines. Major finding from the t-test of difference in mean-assurance levels indicate that, whilst it is commendable that companies are responding to assurance requirement, however it took approximately four years for all the sampled companies to adjust toward a significant response to King III requirement for assurance of sustainability reports. Hence the paper recommends amongst others, that policy makers should allow ample time when initiating new sustainability guidelines and/or policies to enable firms to adjust. External assurance of sustainability reports should be made obligatory and that assurance work should be made to rest in the hands of qualified experts, such as the chartered accountants, to instil greater compliance and desired credibility in sustainability reports. It is also recommended that future studies may look into the extent of independence and objectivity of external assurers of sustainability in the mining firms