Abstract

South Africa’s mining companies are facing many challenges, ranging from industrial actions, uncertainty in legislation, weaknesses in global export markets, and lack of access to capital. Accordingly, sound risk management and adherence to corporate governance principles and practices are essential to the sustainability of these companies. The objectives of this article are twofold: firstly, to provide a brief overview of the risk management practices based on King III requirement on governance practices,  and  secondly to  assess  the  risk  management  disclosures  in  the  annual reports thereof. The objectives were achieved through a literature review on risk management developments as per the requirements of the King III report on Corporate Governance, and supported by empirical evidence obtained from assessing the 2013 annual reports of these top mining companies. The study found that most South Africa’s mining companies do disclose their risk management practices in line with the recommendations of the King III report on corporate governance; however, such disclosures are often lacking detail on actual practices and accomplishments could be enhanced.

Key words: Assurance disclosure governance, Johannesburg securities exchange {JSE}, King III, mining companies, risk management.