LONDON, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Anglo American has been presented with the International Association for Impact Assessment's (IAIA) 2012 Corporate Initiative Award, at the annual IAIA conference in Porto, Portugal. The inaugural award recognises Anglo American's Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT), for its contribution to responsible practice in community engagement and development.

Stephen Lintner, IAIA president, commented: "The IAIA Board of Directors selected SEAT as the recipient of this new award because we believe Anglo American has made a unique attempt to incorporate impact assessment into the way it manages its operations on a day-to-day basis. We also wanted to recognise the fact that Anglo American is sharing its knowledge and experience in impact assessment by making SEAT available to the public."

Launched by Anglo American in 2003, SEAT empowers managers across its operations to build constructive, candid and transparent engagement with stakeholders; to better understand individual stakeholder needs; and then respond to these in a way that delivers greater social and economic benefit to communities over the long term.

Jon Samuel, Head of Social Performance at Anglo American, commented: "We are delighted that SEAT has been recognised by the IAIA. We know that modern, responsible mining can bring great opportunity for economic and social progress, but there are many challenges to making this a reality. We need to better understand our own impacts on communities so that we can create the best possible social and economic benefits for communities for stakeholders in the countries in which we operate."

"We believe we need to be more transparent and accountable in the way that we do business. And we hope that by sharing the tool with the public we can help other companies draw on our own experience in sustainable development, and encourage an open dialogue on what are often complex issues," Mr Samuel added.

Anglo American has recently launched SEAT Version 3. To http://www.angloamerican.com/seat

Notes to editors:

Anglo American is one of the world's largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Anglo American's portfolio of mining businesses spans bulk commodities - iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals - copper and nickel; and precious metals and minerals - in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds.  Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The company's mining operations, extensive pipeline of growth projects and exploration activities span southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Asia and Europe.

http://www.angloamerican.com

SOURCE Anglo American Plc