Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited
HMY
Materials
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exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited is a global gold mining and exploration company, and South Africa's largest gold producer by volume. The company operates underground, open-pit, and surface gold mines, and in the fiscal year ending June 2024, it produced approximately 1.5 million ounces of gold. Its primary business is the extraction of gold and copper, placing it squarely within the extractive industries category.
The company’s operations have been linked to significant environmental and community impacts characteristic of large-scale mining. In one documented incident, its Kusasalethu mine received a “level 3” regulatory directive to stop discharging water pumped from underground workings, indicating a serious environmental compliance issue. Furthermore, Harmony Gold has publicly stated that illegal mining activities, which often flourish in the shadow of formal operations, cost the South African state and mining companies approximately R11 billion in lost taxes and R7 billion in lost revenue, highlighting the broader systemic harms associated with the sector.
While the provided evidence does not detail specific recent misconduct, the company’s core activity—large-scale, energy- and water-intensive gold extraction—is the basis for exclusion under this product-based category.
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited operates gold mines in South Africa and Papua New Guinea, where its core extraction activities have caused documented, systemic environmental damage. A primary legacy issue is acid mine drainage, a form of water pollution resulting from pyrite in gold-bearing ore oxidizing when exposed to air and water. This contamination of ground and surface water is a persistent problem across its operations.
The company has reported multiple significant environmental incidents. Its 2015 Integrated Annual Report detailed a “level 3” incident, its most severe internal classification for environmental events. In 2013, South African authorities legally required Harmony Gold and other mining companies to implement anti-pollution measures to address the widespread water contamination caused by their gold mining activities. More recently, in Papua New Guinea, local communities filed a lawsuit in 2025 seeking a judicial review of an environmental permit granted in 2020. The permit allows mining companies, including Harmony Gold through its joint venture, to dump mine waste into the sea, raising direct concerns over ecological damage to marine habitats.
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