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Rio Tinto — Palabora Mining Company
3,800 employees, one mine, and a leadership team that chose dialogue over decree.
About the client
Palabora Mining Company is a large copper mine, smelter and refinery complex in Limpopo, South Africa, and a member of the worldwide Rio Tinto Group — one of the biggest mining groups in the world.
Business challenge
- Safety incidents had spiked in the months before the engagement
- Rumours that the mine would close had unsettled the entire workforce
- Two major shareholders had announced they were divesting their stake
- A widening communication gap between executives, office staff and mineworkers
- Deep mistrust that traditional top-down consultancy approaches couldn’t repair
The Kgotla® Intervention
- A 10-day, operations-wide Kgotla facilitated across the entire workforce
- Every voice heard in dialogue, from underground miners to senior management — not survey forms
- Storytelling, metaphor and visual symbols used to surface issues language alone couldn’t reach
- Ideas grouped into root causes and themes, then handed to leadership for decision
- A follow-up leadership “game” and coaching sessions to turn decisions into an executable plan
Facts and Figures
- Duration:
- 10 days
- Location:
- Limpopo, South Africa
- Participants:
- 3,800 employees and contractors
- Format:
- Operations-wide Kgotla + leadership sessions
Decisions and Achievements
- 520 ideas raised, distilled into 60 root causes across 9 themes
- 36 decisions taken by leadership and carried out by the people
- Safety procedures rebuilt from the ground up — PPE, training, and reporting culture
- A shared “Vision 2030” giving the workforce a stake in the mine’s future
SUCCESS STORIES
“The Kgotla® process gave us clarity about the future, better understanding about our company and a calmness about the destiny of everyone involved.”
“Kgotla interventions prepared the employees for large scale change and changing the banking game. At the same time many decisions were taken based on the wisdom of the 550 employees.”
“The Kgotla is a perfect way to bridge large differences of opinion and listen to everyone’s ideas.”
“A working environment which represents who we are and where we are.”
