Thursday, February 24, 2011
Read all about it
To view the "Report to the Interministerial Committee on Mine Water Management in the Wits Goldfields, with special emphasis on AMD", please click on the "Scientific Reports" tab above, or visit http://www.dwaf.gov.za/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hang on to those gumboots...
Do not panic about acid mine water, says Manuel
Feb 22, 2011 11:19 PM | By THABO MOKONEThe state aims to make mine groups pay the high costs of eliminating the environmental threat posed by acid mine water drainage on the Witwatersrand.
Photograph by: MARIANNE SCHANKHART
'You will throw away your gum boots and relax'
Related Articles
Manuel said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan would allocate money in the Budget today for pumps, pipelines and treatment works to eliminate acid mine water in a 200km mine network.
He declined to say how expensive the operation would be, but said costs of purifying acid mine water would be recovered from mining groups.
"We will try to reclaim maximally from the profit-making mines that which we can reclaim and understand that we have a collective responsibility to ensure the safety of water systems, river systems, etc, so that South Africans could know that this matter is being dealt with," said Manuel.
He called for calm, saying the government had the issue under control. Scientists assembled by the government had presented concrete measures on how to deal with the threat.
The cabinet had endorsed the measures and the Department of Water Affairs and Mineral Resources would oversee implementation. Manuel said the full report would be released to the public tomorrow.
"There is no catastrophe. I think that once you read the report on Thursday you will have the same kind of reassurance. You will throw away your gumboots and relax with us because we are dealing with this matter. The science is exceptionally good on this matter and there is actually no cause for panic about it.
"I want to repeat that there is no cause to panic about it."
Acid mine water is said to be as acid as strong vinegar. The legacy of 120 years of gold mining, it is found when old shafts and tunnels fill up. Water oxidises with the sulphide mineral iron pyrite, or fool's gold. The water fills the mine and overflows into the environment.
Water affairs official Marius Keet said the were no immediate risks in the Witwatersrand's three geological basins. There were no risks in the eastern basin under the town of Nigel, as the water was 700m deep, or immediate problems in Johannesburg's central basin as the water was 500m deep.
Keet said the immediate risk was in the western basin, under Krugersdorp and Randfontein, where acid mine water had been decanting since 2002.
Acting water affairs director-general Trevor Balzer said new pump stations would be operational by March next year for central Johannesburg as acid water was rising 60cm-90cm a day depending on rain.
Cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi said the government was investigating an environmental levy on mining companies
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Pravin Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan expected to outline costs related to AMD on Wed 23 Feb
Environmentalists, NGOs and ordinary South Africans will know tomorow how much government has allocated to the problem of AMD in the Wits basin when Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers his Budget speech. IInitial estimations were that government may need up to R218 million for a new pump station and pipeline, and to upgrade existing waterworks. But at a press briefing today (Tuesday), National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel said it was premature to determine exactly how much it would cost to address the crisis considering that a lot of work needed to be done in the next three years across the affected areas. He maintains his earlier stance that there is no need for panic or alarm.
Budget to tackle mine acid
Article By: Paul Vecchiatto
Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:58
The cost to clear up the acid mine drainage in the areas around Johannesburg will be released in Wednesday's national Budget by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Cabinet was also considering an environmental levy for such cases.
Minister in the Presidency for National Planning Trevor Manuel said this at a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, when he also indicated that the long-awaited report would be released on the Department of Water Affairs' website on Thursday.
Manuel, who was accompanied by Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant, emphasised that there was no need to panic and that plans were well underway to contain and eliminate the acid water that has been seeping to the surface from operational and disused mines.
Acid mine water drainage affects three geological basins on the Witwatersrand - the hub of SA's gold mining sector.
Manuel and experts said there was no immediate threat from either the Eastern or Central Basins as the water was 700 metres and 500 metres respectively below the surface. However, the Western Basin was showing signs of risk and this was where pumping of water and its neutralisation would begin.
In the briefing notes, Cabinet noted that the team of experts on the inter-ministerial committee made the following recommendations: implementing ingress control measures to reduce the rate of flooding and the eventual decanting and pumping volume; reducing costs to deal with acid mine drainage; improving water quality management; removal of salt loads from river systems to be considered in the medium to long term; improving monitoring and undertaking research to inform decision making and managing and monitoring other acid mine drainage sources within the Witwatersrand Basin.
Manuel said the issue of an environmental levy was a complex one as in some cases the mines were already treating water.
Cabinet was also considering an environmental levy for such cases.
Minister in the Presidency for National Planning Trevor Manuel said this at a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, when he also indicated that the long-awaited report would be released on the Department of Water Affairs' website on Thursday.
Manuel, who was accompanied by Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant, emphasised that there was no need to panic and that plans were well underway to contain and eliminate the acid water that has been seeping to the surface from operational and disused mines.
Acid mine water drainage affects three geological basins on the Witwatersrand - the hub of SA's gold mining sector.
Manuel and experts said there was no immediate threat from either the Eastern or Central Basins as the water was 700 metres and 500 metres respectively below the surface. However, the Western Basin was showing signs of risk and this was where pumping of water and its neutralisation would begin.
In the briefing notes, Cabinet noted that the team of experts on the inter-ministerial committee made the following recommendations: implementing ingress control measures to reduce the rate of flooding and the eventual decanting and pumping volume; reducing costs to deal with acid mine drainage; improving water quality management; removal of salt loads from river systems to be considered in the medium to long term; improving monitoring and undertaking research to inform decision making and managing and monitoring other acid mine drainage sources within the Witwatersrand Basin.
Manuel said the issue of an environmental levy was a complex one as in some cases the mines were already treating water.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Mines threaten water catchment areas
The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) has received 1 775 mining and prospecting applications since 2005, raising concerns about acid mine drainage in South Africa’s primary water catchment systems.
The prospecting applications represent 40.3 percent of Mpumalanga’s surface area, and mining applications 13.7 percent. It is unclear what proportion have been granted.
The mining firms were seeking primarily coal, but applications were also lodged for tin, vanadium, cobalt, torbanite and platinum group metals.
The Department of Mineral Resources is obliged to pass on applications for prospecting and mining rights in Mpumalanga to the MTPA, which is a commenting authority.
Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu implemented a moratorium on the receipt of new prospecting applications in September. It expires at month-end in all provinces except Mpumalanga, where it will run for another two to three months.
Shabangu said she granted the extension because much work needed to be done in Mpumalanga, particularly addressing cases in which rights were granted over areas that were environmentally sensitive.
Well-placed sources said the Mpumalanga applications lodged since 2005 had been made in 39 percent of the province’s high water-yielding sub-catchments, which produce half its water yield. If allowed to proceed, the mining and prospecting activity would have massive pollution implications for water catchment systems, including the Vaal, Tugela, Usuthu and Pongola.
Concern is also mounting about a resurgence of interest in old gold mines around Pilgrim’s Rest. The sources said the applications had been made in 25 percent of the province’s designated protected areas, half of all irreplaceable sites (where no other options are available to meet conservation targets), 65 percent of highly significant areas (where limited options are available for targets), and 63 percent of threatened ecosystems.
Since the start of the moratorium on new prospecting applications in September, the MTPA had received 81 prospecting applications.
Department spokeswoman Zingaphi Jakuja said yesterday the moratorium applied to the receipt of new prospecting applications only. In the meantime, those in the system were being processed.
Angus Burns, the co-ordinator of the WWF Enkangala Grassland Project, which aims to protect 1.6 million hectares of critical habitat that contains the source of four major South African river systems, said the department should clarify what a moratorium meant.
“Is it continuous processing in the background, and the minute it ends, they will issue licences? This seems like business as usual.”
He questioned why mining rights were still being issued if environmental concerns were the primary reason for extending the moratorium on prospecting applications in Mpumalanga.
He also queried why the extension of the moratorium on environmental grounds was restricted to Mpumalanga. He pointed out the headwaters of the Pongola River system crossed from Mpumalanga into northern KwaZulu-Natal, an area affected by a number of prospecting rights.
Jakuja said environmental considerations were not the only reason informing the extension of the moratorium in Mpumalanga. Other reasons included the need to “finalise outstanding overlaps where rights were granted
“. - Business Report
Department of Water Affairs reports
Report lays acid mine drainage bare
Feb 20, 2011 1:35 AM | By LUCKY BIYASE in The TimesThe stark and harsh reality of acid mine drainage (AMD) is laid bare in a report by the Department of Water Affairs.
WHERE'S THE WATER? Aurora mine's No 1 catchment tank used to receive water directly from the mine. Because the pumps have been removed no water is being drained from the mine. The walls are covered with mining sludge Pictures: KATHERINE MUICK-MERE
The document includes the findings of an interministerial committee team of experts on AMD, assembled in September to investigate the issue.
"Urgent reduction of water ingress into mine voids remained a high priority," it says.
The department would neither confirm nor deny ownership of the document.
The document proposes various interventions for three areas: the West Rand (Western Basin), central Johannesburg (Central Basin) and the East Rand (Eastern Basin).
It also notes that recent heavy rain and resultant flooding in Gauteng raised concerns that these conditions would lead to more water flowing into mines and worsening AMD in the province.
"The recent occurrence of flooding is in essence a matter separate to that of AMD; however, cognisance must be taken that flood water has potential to enter mine workings and also increase AMD."
The document points out that water in mine workings is an important environmental concern.
"As mine water levels rise, it contaminates ground water. Further rises lead to decant (overflow) of the polluted water into surface streams, releasing water directly to mine openings," it says.
Turning to the Western Basin, the report says the AMD flow rate during the dry season was either absent or of relatively small volumes, typically averaging two megalitres, or 2000000l, a day. But during the wet season, such as in December, this rose to 15.5 megalitres per day, on average.
It says that after heavy rains last month, the decant further increased to an average of 30 megalitres. This is in addition to 12 megalitres of partially treated mine water a day, making for a total of 42 megalitres a day.
"These episodes of AMD decant are contaminating ... Tweelopies Spruit and Blaauwbank Spruit (which both flow north into the Crocodile River system).
"Western Basin subsurface mine water is considered to be flowing via underground paths to the Wonderfontein Spruit, a river which feeds into the Vaal River."
On the Central Basin, the document says previous evidence shows the rate of water rise ranged from 30cm a day in the dry season to 90cm a day in the wet season (averaging about 55cm a day).
"Presently the water level is at 508m below surface and there is no surface decant of AMD," the report says.
"The latest results indicate the rate of rise fluctuates between 0.37m and 0.47m per day," it adds.
"Despite the recent high rainfall, there is a slower rise than expected, which is possibly due to delayed ingression or a more extensive network of lateral mine workings at the 500m (below surface) level, which is absorbing the ingress of water."
The report has the following to say about the Eastern Basin: "As with the Central Basin, there is no surface decant of AMD ... and the current subsurface mine water level is approximately 700m below surface.
"Recent rainfall has boosted the rate of rise to around 0.4m per day (about seven times the rate during dryer conditions).
"At the prevailing rate, mine water can flood the pump station in as little as 16 days unless the Grootvlei Mine seriously increases pumping output.
"According to information at the department's disposal, Grootvlei Mine is in the process of increasing pumping capacity."
Anthony Turton, a critic of the government's handling of the issue, said the report seemed reasonable. "I see nothing here that speaks of a cover-up. Nothing mind bogglingly new either, but no cover-up."
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Water polluters could foot bill for cleanups
LINDA ENSOR
Business Day (South Africa)
February 16, 2011
Water polluters could foot bill for cleanups
Political Correspondent
CAPE TOWN - Polluters of underground water will be made to pay for the cleanup if talks under way between Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan bear fruit.
Among the options being considered was an environmental tax or levy, Ms Molewa said during a parliamentary media briefing yesterday on the infrastructure development cluster.
Such a measure would prevent a situation in future where mines were left derelict and the government had to pick up the tab for dealing with the acid mine water drainage problem they left.
If mining companies relied on the government to clean up after them, the problem would continue in perpetuity, she said.
Ms Molewa also said that where possible, the Department of Environmental Affairs would try to track down the companies that left derelict mines - which now posed an acid mine drainage threat - so that they could bear the costs of dealing with it.
The minister gave assurances that the government would use its financial resources to deal with the immediate acid mine water problems in the Krugersdorp area. It would reveal details of its immediate plans once these were approved by the Cabinet, probably later this week, she said.
Decanting from closed mines was taking place and had been worsened by the recent rains.
In Mpumalanga, mining operators were treating acid mine drainage on their own.
Ms Molewa conceded that the problem of acid mine drainage in Gauteng was & quite bad, to say the least& and stressed that the government took it very seriously. It was not buying time, she said.
The decanting of acid mine water in Boksburg is expected to begin late next year.
Also high on the department's agenda was the maintenance of water service infrastructure with municipalities to prevent leaks of water and sewage. This was an & enormous challenge& which would require billions and billions of rand, Ms Molewa said.
She reported that her department had identified seven new augmentation water resource infrastructure projects.
Preparations were on track for the completion of the Vaal River Eastern Sub-System Augmentation Project in Mpumalanga by May 2012, Ms Molewa said.
Preparations were also on track to implement the Komati Water Augmentation Scheme in Mpumalanga; the Mokolo from Crocodile Water Augmentation Project in Limpopo; and the project to raise the Hazelmere Dam in KwaZulu-Natal.
ensorl@bdfm.co.za
Political Correspondent
CAPE TOWN - Polluters of underground water will be made to pay for the cleanup if talks under way between Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan bear fruit.
Among the options being considered was an environmental tax or levy, Ms Molewa said during a parliamentary media briefing yesterday on the infrastructure development cluster.
Such a measure would prevent a situation in future where mines were left derelict and the government had to pick up the tab for dealing with the acid mine water drainage problem they left.
If mining companies relied on the government to clean up after them, the problem would continue in perpetuity, she said.
Ms Molewa also said that where possible, the Department of Environmental Affairs would try to track down the companies that left derelict mines - which now posed an acid mine drainage threat - so that they could bear the costs of dealing with it.
The minister gave assurances that the government would use its financial resources to deal with the immediate acid mine water problems in the Krugersdorp area. It would reveal details of its immediate plans once these were approved by the Cabinet, probably later this week, she said.
Decanting from closed mines was taking place and had been worsened by the recent rains.
In Mpumalanga, mining operators were treating acid mine drainage on their own.
Ms Molewa conceded that the problem of acid mine drainage in Gauteng was & quite bad, to say the least& and stressed that the government took it very seriously. It was not buying time, she said.
The decanting of acid mine water in Boksburg is expected to begin late next year.
Also high on the department's agenda was the maintenance of water service infrastructure with municipalities to prevent leaks of water and sewage. This was an & enormous challenge& which would require billions and billions of rand, Ms Molewa said.
She reported that her department had identified seven new augmentation water resource infrastructure projects.
Preparations were on track for the completion of the Vaal River Eastern Sub-System Augmentation Project in Mpumalanga by May 2012, Ms Molewa said.
Preparations were also on track to implement the Komati Water Augmentation Scheme in Mpumalanga; the Mokolo from Crocodile Water Augmentation Project in Limpopo; and the project to raise the Hazelmere Dam in KwaZulu-Natal.
ensorl@bdfm.co.za
Copyright 2011 BDFM Publishers PTY Ltd.All Rights Reserved
Business Day (South Africa)
Jacqueline Mackenzie
BusinessLIVE
Acid mine drainage 'part of bigger problem'
Acid mine drainage is just a small part of a much bigger problem and SA is facing a water predicament, delegates to the South African Water and Energy Forum were told this week.
Professor Tony Turton, the vice-president of the International Water Resource Association (IWRA), said an element of this predicament was energy, as SA was investing in Eskom with insufficient water to sustain it. Yet he noted that moves to recycle 1.7 times the usage of water would have significant economic benefits - as the economy grows it will need more water and if there is not more water, jobs will not be able to be created."Built in [to this] is the assumption that we will solve the problem as we go along," he said. He predicted that peak coal would happen in 2020 - in the current duration of the Eskom build.
He said this opened up the debate on alternative energy sources - including thorium as a nuclear option. There would be a trade-off between water, energy and food security.
He noted that peaks were game changers and post-peak pressures drove us into increased risk. He said 2007 was the global peak for oil, and food prices tracked the oil price - and food is all about energy and water. With peak oil and peak water, came food insecurity, he said.
The global peak oil coincided with the global economic recession and the gold-based economy had been carrying SA. Turton noted, however, that for the mining industry, environmental constraints were relevant and there were development constraints due to environmental issues. Revenue from mining was not going to be enough to pay for development, he noted.
He said a recent report from Touchstone Resources showed that the biggest single impact from acid mine drainage was not flooding, but the loss of investor confidence. And this was being fuelled by a lack of information.
He added that when all four mining basins on the Witwatersrand decanted they would contribute 3% to the Vaal River, but would increase salts (which acid mine drainage produces in large quantities) by 25% and the Orange River basin would close. Turton warned that SA's agricultural capacity would be severely affected and job losses would be exacerbated.
"For the first time in our history we are seeing environmental constraints to our economic development," he added.
He said, however, that the development of alternative energy resources would not be without opposition, citing the speed at which opposition had emerged to the proposed shale gas exploration in the Karoo.
"Alternative energy resources will not come without vigorous opposition," he said.
He noted the areas in which SA's coal deposits occured coincided with the country's best agricultural land and this meant that SA's energy addiction to coal was destroying the national agricultural capacity.
He said platinum might be the new engine of growth - but it also required masses of water. The extraction process was energy constrained because of the depth of deposits.
He added that land reform had unintended consequences, with the potential loss of food security.
Turton warned that the post gold peak was going to be a difficult time for SA as it approached a water-energy-food nexus crisis.
He said that people from the various interest groups needed to get together to speak to each other and maverick thinking was required.
"The logic used for the game has changed forever."
He added that partnerships between institutions, academics and scientists had to be nurtured and new partnerships between government and industry were needed.
He said there would be risks. Water prices were likely to increase quite dramatically - at least threefold in the short to medium term. There would also be increases in the price of energy, more stringent requirements for water permits, particularly for the big users of water, increases of costs of waste discharge.
There would also be a reduction in the assurance of supply, increased labour unrest due to persistent unemployment and loss of investor confidence with talk of nationalisation. There would also be increased pressure on CEOs to report all water-related risks to institutional investors.
Turton concluded that future energy solutions would be constrained by water. "We still have a lot of coal in the ground, whether we can get it out without impacting our water is another story. We need vigorous debate on the new energy mix to include renewables but also nuclear.
"We need to recycle our total national water source 1.7 times by 2035 and we will have full employment," he said.
He said SA needed to think about managing water as a flux, rather than a stock. In essence this meant that the foundation of the new economy would be recycling in a way that was safe by removing endocrine disrupting chemicals and heavy metals.
This meant that water of a different quality and price would be used for different purposes at different places in the national economy, he concluded.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Finally...
Acid water report in cabinet today
A report on acid mine drainage will go to the cabinet today, setting out the government’s plan to stem the flow of millions of litres of toxic water into various rivers and wetlands.
However, Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said at a briefing by infrastructure cluster ministers yesterday morning that the department had the necessary R218 million required to construct a pump station on the East Rand to fight the toxic tide rising beneath the surface in Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
Molewa said the problem in Gauteng “is quite bad to say the least”, noting that in Krugersdorp a number of mines had closed down, leaving no one to deal with the problem of acid drainage decanting.
“Government has got to address this problem,” she said, noting that there were just a few mines operating and the burden could not be expected to be carried by them alone.
She said a pump station would be built in Boksburg on the East Rand and it would probably be in operation by the end of next year.
Mbangiseni Nepfumbada, the chief director of policy at water affairs, said there were tight deadlines in terms of the decanting, but he did not believe that this plan would be on stream “too late”. “We can say the timing is tight,” he said.
The minister said her department had been in discussions with the National Treasury and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to resolve the funding problem related to tackling acid mine drainage.
This could take the form of an environmental tax, but the details were being worked out together with the Treasury.
Acid mine drainage is an acute problem. According to environmentalists, Grootvlei mine at Ekhurhuleni is pumping out 40 megalitres of water a day into the Blesbokspruit, which feeds the Maryvale wetland. Decanting on the West Rand is taking place on Rand Uranium’s property and flowing into the Tweelopies Spruit.
Only about 15 megalitres of the 50 megalitres being pumped are being treated.
A range of environmental organisations gave the government until next week to respond to a demand that a government report on ways to stop the flow be released.
The Centre for Environmental Rights, Earthlife Africa and the Federation for a Sustainable Environment led a host of organisations which argued that the government’s failure to act was unconstitutional.
In terms of the constitution, everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. - Business Report
Toxic crops
North West farmers warn of toxic crops
Rene Potgieter and her father Paul warn that people in the North West province could be eating toxic vegetables, caused by acid mine drainage.
LIVHUWANI MAMMBURU
Farmers Rene Potgieter and her father Paul have warned South Africans that vegetables from areas affected by acid mine drainage could be toxic.
The Potgieters’ farm is situated in the Gerhard Minnebronne at Potchestroom in the North West province, which lies within the Wondersfonteinspruit Catchment area. The water from the Gerhard Minnebronne reaches the Boskop Dam, Potchestroom’s main reservoir.
Rene Potgieter said she had received death threats from the farmers around the area because she spoke out against farmers who sell toxic vegetables and fruits to the public.
"A lot of farmers contract their crops out ahead of the actual production to numerous organizations and companies. The farmers do not want publicity about their crops being toxic because the companies will cancel their products as there is a potential risk for human consumption. The companies in return cannot purchase crops from the particular farmers and put them in the mainstream market. The farmers would rather keep quiet to protect their crops," they said.
The Potgieters were peach and mushroom farmers and had to stop farming in December 2002 when creeping toxicity hit them.
Rene Potgieter said: "Our situation is not unique. It is played out in all the areas that are affected by acid mine drainage in South Africa. We are a water business with good intentions, then suddenly productivity started declining. Our peaches were not suitable for human consumption. They had high levels of uranium. It was a logical conclusion to stop farming.
"It all comes down to increase in salt loads. The increase in salt load, if you trace them back, is a result of mining activities in the area. The adverse economic situation is a result of pollution dumped by the mining companies. Farmers are fighting for their lives to save their farms," she said.
Paul Potgieter concurred with his daughter, saying the water quality in the area is so poor that normal farming had been stopped. He said cattle are not allowed to drink from the normal river.
Paul said farming in the area is now impossible. "We have reached a stage where we realize that we need to take action against the polluter," he warned.
He said that they had instituted a claim against the mining companies that are responsible for polluting the area.
"This is a Goliath and David situation. It is hellishly expensive. The mining companies do not want our case to go to court. We have spent R5m in legal fees and every time we go to court, it gets expensive. The government have lost control and we are forced to take a legal route," he warned
Rene Potgieter and her father Paul warn that people in the North West province could be eating toxic vegetables, caused by acid mine drainage.
LIVHUWANI MAMMBURU
Farmers Rene Potgieter and her father Paul have warned South Africans that vegetables from areas affected by acid mine drainage could be toxic.
The Potgieters’ farm is situated in the Gerhard Minnebronne at Potchestroom in the North West province, which lies within the Wondersfonteinspruit Catchment area. The water from the Gerhard Minnebronne reaches the Boskop Dam, Potchestroom’s main reservoir.
Rene Potgieter said she had received death threats from the farmers around the area because she spoke out against farmers who sell toxic vegetables and fruits to the public.
"A lot of farmers contract their crops out ahead of the actual production to numerous organizations and companies. The farmers do not want publicity about their crops being toxic because the companies will cancel their products as there is a potential risk for human consumption. The companies in return cannot purchase crops from the particular farmers and put them in the mainstream market. The farmers would rather keep quiet to protect their crops," they said.
The Potgieters were peach and mushroom farmers and had to stop farming in December 2002 when creeping toxicity hit them.
Rene Potgieter said: "Our situation is not unique. It is played out in all the areas that are affected by acid mine drainage in South Africa. We are a water business with good intentions, then suddenly productivity started declining. Our peaches were not suitable for human consumption. They had high levels of uranium. It was a logical conclusion to stop farming.
"It all comes down to increase in salt loads. The increase in salt load, if you trace them back, is a result of mining activities in the area. The adverse economic situation is a result of pollution dumped by the mining companies. Farmers are fighting for their lives to save their farms," she said.
Paul Potgieter concurred with his daughter, saying the water quality in the area is so poor that normal farming had been stopped. He said cattle are not allowed to drink from the normal river.
Paul said farming in the area is now impossible. "We have reached a stage where we realize that we need to take action against the polluter," he warned.
He said that they had instituted a claim against the mining companies that are responsible for polluting the area.
"This is a Goliath and David situation. It is hellishly expensive. The mining companies do not want our case to go to court. We have spent R5m in legal fees and every time we go to court, it gets expensive. The government have lost control and we are forced to take a legal route," he warned
CRG shares slide
CRG hit by acid mine concerns
Feb 3, 2011 11:22 PM | By ReutersCentral Rand Gold's share price fell sharply after the company, which has assets in southern Johannesburg, again raised concern about acid mine drainage.
CRG said yesterday that it had not received a formal undertaking from the government on how to deal with the problem, while recent heavy rains and flooding in Gauteng had worsened the problem and hastened the water table's rise.
However, no formal undertaking had been received.
The company said if a plan was not identified by the end of next month its prospects would need to be re-evaluated. By 3pm yesterday the share price was down 10c, or 28.6%, to 25c.
CRG and other affected mining companies support the first phase of the interim solution being considered by the government, which involves construction of a submersible pump station that can lift 72 megalitres of acid water a day.
The plan envisages that the water will be partially treated through the existing high-density sludge plant at East Rand Proprietary Mines. The full cost of the project is estimated at $26-million, with the company's proportionate funding expected at about $4-million.
To protect the resource base above 250m below surface, the project had to start construction by the end of the first quarter of this year, it said.
"As there is no alternate proposal within the time-frame available to resolve this problem, CRG unilaterally ordered the longest lead item, ie the submersible pumps, in August last year at a cost of $4-million, but the company cannot shoulder the burden of the legacy from 120 years of mining along the central area of the Witwatersrand and complete or operate this project on its own.
"[Without] clear commitment to this joint project by the end of the first quarter of 2011, CRG faces the very real prospect of inaccessibility to its reserves below 250m below surface by the end of the year."
The company said it was in advanced discussions and continued to engage with the government in an effort to resolve the acid mine drainage and water table issue.
"Further updates will be made as this situation unfolds. Shareholders should be in no doubt that if a clear and positive way forward is not identified by the end of March, the prospects of the company will need to be re-evaluated."
Show us!
'Show us acid mine report'
Feb 12, 2011 10:43 PM | By LUCKY BIYASE
Environmentalists and academics say the magnitude, complexity and costs involved in the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) may be the reason why the government is being tardy in disclosing the findings of the report it commissioned last year.
I am of the view that disclosure is manifestly in the interest of the public and the environment. "The magnitude and complexity stems from 120 years of unregulated gold mining and to treat the AMD water to potable quality using reverse osmosis will be R11 per cubic metre," said Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive at the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.
"Rand Water sells its water at between R3 and R4 per cubic metre and government, particularly the apartheid government, has been the principal polluter."
Scientist Dr Anthony Turton agrees. "It is all about the end of a golden age of wealth extraction that gave little thought to a post-mining future and no repatriation or reinvestment of that wealth for the day that the gold ran out. The party is over. Now comes the hangover."
Dina Townsend, a staff attorney at the Centre for Environmental Rights, said a coalition of NGOs was considering legal remedies to prevent and mitigate the discharge of millions of litres of polluted acid mine water into water courses.
"The failure to publish the report increases public suspicion about the scope and urgency of the problem, and we have called on the inter-ministerial committee to release the report to the public without further delay," Townsend said.
In September last year the government assembled a team of 27 experts to work out a response to the problem.
The team had six weeks to work on a report that was presented to an inter-ministerial committee.
Liefferink said it was concerning that the Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, was authorising prospecting and mining rights without ensuring that there were sufficient rehabilitation funds available to deal with residual and latent impacts such as AMD.
"It should not be passed over that the mineral resources minister has the right, in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, to liquidate, even before mine closure, the rehabilitation funds, in order to address environmental emergencies," she said.
"It is perplexing that the minister has not liquidated these trust funds for pumping and treatment of AMD."
Turton said the country's options are limited.
"If one expands outwards from AMD as a single issue, and takes a broader strategic look at the whole thing, then the future viability of Johannesburg as a city, and Gauteng as a province, is at stake," he said.
"Then there is the complex issue of open holes between the surface and the mine void. A recent report by Department of Mineral Resources to parliament notes the existence of 900 holes of this nature, 244 of which are in central Johannesburg. Some of these holes are 1000m deep. These holes exist because of unemployment resulting in the theft of metal from these abandoned shafts. Zama Zamas (illegal miners) also use these illegal openings.
"AMD is thus a small part of a very much bigger problem, that collectively raises the question about the very sustainability of Johannesburg as a safe city in which to invest."
Justin Truter, a director at Werksmans Attorneys, said: "I am of the view that disclosure of the report is manifestly in the public interest and in the interest of the environment; that its disclosure will reveal a serious, and perhaps imminent, public safety and/or environmental risk, and that its disclosure outweighs any grounds of exclusion under the Promotion of Access to Information Act on which the state may seek to rely."
He said the Constitution recognises the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing and to have the environment protected for present and future generations.
He said the information act provides for mandatory disclosure where such a disclosure will reveal a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law, or an imminent and serious public safety or environmental risk and the public interest in the disclosure of the record clearly outweighs the harm contemplated in the ground of exclusion.
Marius Diemont, a partner specialising in environmental law at Webber Wentzel, said the lack of transparency and consultation in the process was worrying. Not even the communities most affected have been consulted.
Diemont said: "The failure of the inter-ministerial committee to make available the reports means that there can be no open debate. It is imperative that the public be informed what the findings of the report are."
Attempts to get comment from the government on the subject this week were unsuccessful.
Feb 12, 2011 10:43 PM | By LUCKY BIYASE
Environmentalists and academics say the magnitude, complexity and costs involved in the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) may be the reason why the government is being tardy in disclosing the findings of the report it commissioned last year.
I am of the view that disclosure is manifestly in the interest of the public and the environment. "The magnitude and complexity stems from 120 years of unregulated gold mining and to treat the AMD water to potable quality using reverse osmosis will be R11 per cubic metre," said Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive at the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.
"Rand Water sells its water at between R3 and R4 per cubic metre and government, particularly the apartheid government, has been the principal polluter."
Scientist Dr Anthony Turton agrees. "It is all about the end of a golden age of wealth extraction that gave little thought to a post-mining future and no repatriation or reinvestment of that wealth for the day that the gold ran out. The party is over. Now comes the hangover."
Dina Townsend, a staff attorney at the Centre for Environmental Rights, said a coalition of NGOs was considering legal remedies to prevent and mitigate the discharge of millions of litres of polluted acid mine water into water courses.
"The failure to publish the report increases public suspicion about the scope and urgency of the problem, and we have called on the inter-ministerial committee to release the report to the public without further delay," Townsend said.
In September last year the government assembled a team of 27 experts to work out a response to the problem.
The team had six weeks to work on a report that was presented to an inter-ministerial committee.
Liefferink said it was concerning that the Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, was authorising prospecting and mining rights without ensuring that there were sufficient rehabilitation funds available to deal with residual and latent impacts such as AMD.
"It should not be passed over that the mineral resources minister has the right, in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, to liquidate, even before mine closure, the rehabilitation funds, in order to address environmental emergencies," she said.
"It is perplexing that the minister has not liquidated these trust funds for pumping and treatment of AMD."
Turton said the country's options are limited.
"If one expands outwards from AMD as a single issue, and takes a broader strategic look at the whole thing, then the future viability of Johannesburg as a city, and Gauteng as a province, is at stake," he said.
"Then there is the complex issue of open holes between the surface and the mine void. A recent report by Department of Mineral Resources to parliament notes the existence of 900 holes of this nature, 244 of which are in central Johannesburg. Some of these holes are 1000m deep. These holes exist because of unemployment resulting in the theft of metal from these abandoned shafts. Zama Zamas (illegal miners) also use these illegal openings.
"AMD is thus a small part of a very much bigger problem, that collectively raises the question about the very sustainability of Johannesburg as a safe city in which to invest."
Justin Truter, a director at Werksmans Attorneys, said: "I am of the view that disclosure of the report is manifestly in the public interest and in the interest of the environment; that its disclosure will reveal a serious, and perhaps imminent, public safety and/or environmental risk, and that its disclosure outweighs any grounds of exclusion under the Promotion of Access to Information Act on which the state may seek to rely."
He said the Constitution recognises the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing and to have the environment protected for present and future generations.
He said the information act provides for mandatory disclosure where such a disclosure will reveal a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law, or an imminent and serious public safety or environmental risk and the public interest in the disclosure of the record clearly outweighs the harm contemplated in the ground of exclusion.
Marius Diemont, a partner specialising in environmental law at Webber Wentzel, said the lack of transparency and consultation in the process was worrying. Not even the communities most affected have been consulted.
Diemont said: "The failure of the inter-ministerial committee to make available the reports means that there can be no open debate. It is imperative that the public be informed what the findings of the report are."
Attempts to get comment from the government on the subject this week were unsuccessful.
Blind hippos and dead fish
Rising toxic water levels from abandoned gold mines threaten the city and have blinded wild hippos
By Jon Herskovitz in Johannesburg - The Independent
Sunday, 13 February 2011
South Africa's city of gold, Johannesburg, may soon start being eaten away by acidic water flowing from the mines that created its astronomical fortunes. Mines dug more than a century ago stretching about 25 miles along one of the world's largest gold deposits have reached their water-storage limit and will start leaking a toxic cocktail of chemicals in the coming months, independent experts and government officials have said.
If left unchecked, acidic mine water is expected to foul up works near the country's Apartheid Museum, flood basements in central Johannesburg and seep into the streets of the city of about four million people. "The threat of acid water decanting from old mine workings is a real and present danger. It poses a threat to our economy, environment, health and history," Terence McCarthy, a professor of geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, wrote in a report.
Already, in some parts, the leaching is happening. In the western Johannesburg suburbs, acid mine water began leaking in 2002; in towns such as Krugersdorp, acidic lakes dot the landscape near large open piles of chemicals extracted from mines. Signs warning of radiation are posted outside a sludge-filled pool; hippos at a nearby nature reserve are going blind because of what is thought to be acid water run-off, and fish are dying in polluted water near the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
Acid mine drainage has plagued derelict mines globally for decades but most of the damage has been in remote areas. The problem for Johannesburg is that it was built over its gold mines and that land now is home to some of the country's biggest firms and greatest population densities.
About three years ago, the last major pump removing water from the mines stopped, signalling an end to a gold rush that brought wealth to a few while hundreds of thousands of black Africans went underground to dig.
Then the water began to accumulate in the massive underground cavities, reacting with rocks formed about 2.8 billion years ago and triggering chemical reactions that produced sulphuric acid, heavy metals, toxins and radiation. The water, once about 1,000ft underground, has been rising at an average rate of 50ft per month, with the void expected to fill up completely in less than three years.
The leakage problems will be small at first and grow costlier the longer action is delayed, experts said. Professor McCarthy said the spillage can be avoided by immediately setting up two pump and treatment stations along the main gold reef to keep the water to at least 1,000ft below the surface. "The solutions are expensive, though not technically daunting – and must be implemented in a matter of months," his report said.
The government agrees that urgent action is needed but has given little indication it will do anything before the acid water reaches underground facilities in Johannesburg. A report from government-appointed experts planned for release last month has yet to see the light of day.
Along with finding a way to solve the problem, the government has yet to figure out how to pay for it. It cannot pass the bill on to firms as ownership of mines has changed hands so often and many firms have vanished. There is not enough gold left to make it commercially viable for a new firm to go in and pay for a clean-up. The environment ministry several years ago warned of the escalating costs of inaction, saying in a report: "If the threat from acid mine drainage is not solved in the short to medium term, it is likely to persist for centuries to come." But environmental protection ranks low in the state's budget.
Sandile Nogxina, director-general of the Department of Mineral Resources, told parliament last year: "We will not allow the situation to get out of hand; it will not reach crisis proportions."
But others are not reassured. "The fact that the government has not acted is astonishing," said Mariette Liefferink, chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment. "Over 120 years, there were more than 120 mining companies that passed on or externalised their costs. There are no short-term, medium-term or long-term plans in place. It is just crisis management."
By Jon Herskovitz in Johannesburg - The Independent
Sunday, 13 February 2011
South Africa's city of gold, Johannesburg, may soon start being eaten away by acidic water flowing from the mines that created its astronomical fortunes. Mines dug more than a century ago stretching about 25 miles along one of the world's largest gold deposits have reached their water-storage limit and will start leaking a toxic cocktail of chemicals in the coming months, independent experts and government officials have said.
If left unchecked, acidic mine water is expected to foul up works near the country's Apartheid Museum, flood basements in central Johannesburg and seep into the streets of the city of about four million people. "The threat of acid water decanting from old mine workings is a real and present danger. It poses a threat to our economy, environment, health and history," Terence McCarthy, a professor of geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, wrote in a report.
Already, in some parts, the leaching is happening. In the western Johannesburg suburbs, acid mine water began leaking in 2002; in towns such as Krugersdorp, acidic lakes dot the landscape near large open piles of chemicals extracted from mines. Signs warning of radiation are posted outside a sludge-filled pool; hippos at a nearby nature reserve are going blind because of what is thought to be acid water run-off, and fish are dying in polluted water near the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
Acid mine drainage has plagued derelict mines globally for decades but most of the damage has been in remote areas. The problem for Johannesburg is that it was built over its gold mines and that land now is home to some of the country's biggest firms and greatest population densities.
About three years ago, the last major pump removing water from the mines stopped, signalling an end to a gold rush that brought wealth to a few while hundreds of thousands of black Africans went underground to dig.
Then the water began to accumulate in the massive underground cavities, reacting with rocks formed about 2.8 billion years ago and triggering chemical reactions that produced sulphuric acid, heavy metals, toxins and radiation. The water, once about 1,000ft underground, has been rising at an average rate of 50ft per month, with the void expected to fill up completely in less than three years.
The leakage problems will be small at first and grow costlier the longer action is delayed, experts said. Professor McCarthy said the spillage can be avoided by immediately setting up two pump and treatment stations along the main gold reef to keep the water to at least 1,000ft below the surface. "The solutions are expensive, though not technically daunting – and must be implemented in a matter of months," his report said.
The government agrees that urgent action is needed but has given little indication it will do anything before the acid water reaches underground facilities in Johannesburg. A report from government-appointed experts planned for release last month has yet to see the light of day.
Along with finding a way to solve the problem, the government has yet to figure out how to pay for it. It cannot pass the bill on to firms as ownership of mines has changed hands so often and many firms have vanished. There is not enough gold left to make it commercially viable for a new firm to go in and pay for a clean-up. The environment ministry several years ago warned of the escalating costs of inaction, saying in a report: "If the threat from acid mine drainage is not solved in the short to medium term, it is likely to persist for centuries to come." But environmental protection ranks low in the state's budget.
Sandile Nogxina, director-general of the Department of Mineral Resources, told parliament last year: "We will not allow the situation to get out of hand; it will not reach crisis proportions."
But others are not reassured. "The fact that the government has not acted is astonishing," said Mariette Liefferink, chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment. "Over 120 years, there were more than 120 mining companies that passed on or externalised their costs. There are no short-term, medium-term or long-term plans in place. It is just crisis management."
Damnded if they do and damned if they dont
Business Report - 15 Feb 2011
Secrets require much time and effort to keep under wraps. Just ask ArcelorMittal South Africa which, nine years later, continues to fend off demands for sight of its environmental masterplan and may now face a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).
If ArcelorMittal SA is sitting on a problem, then the government appears to be sitting on a predicament of impossible proportions as it decides how to prevent further decant of acid mine drainage (AMD) from derelict gold mines of the Witwatersrand western basin, and halt the rise of water in the central and eastern basins. AMD occurs when water combines with oxygen and pyrites in the ore body of unused mines to release a toxic mix of heavy metals. In the uranium-bearing ore of the Witwatersrand, it is radioactive too.
The state has so far kept under wraps various reports by a team of experts appointed last year by an interministerial committee on AMD. This led a group of 43 environmental groups to submit an application under Paia last week.
However, the Department of Water Affairs says the report will be available once approved by the cabinet. In the meantime, civil society groups are concerned at a lack of transparency and consultation, pointing out that since the committee was formed, millions of litres of acid mine water have decanted into streams connected to the Vaal and Crocodile River systems.
The department itself acknowledges that heavy rains have contributed to more surface water entering ground water systems, resulting in more AMD decanting into the Tweelopies Spruit on the western basin and raising the rate of AMD rise in the central and eastern basins.
But why is it still so secretive about releasing the findings of its probe?
Outspoken water scientist Anthony Turton, who was suspended by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 2008 after raising the alarm about South Africa’s pending water crisis, says the government is in a tight corner. “They’re damned if they do (release the report), and they’re damned if they don’t.”
He believes that once the report is public, the state will have to acknowledge it has not acted timeously to prevent AMD reaching the surface. On the other hand, if it moves too fast, it opens up a can of worms around liability.
Gold mining companies still operating on the Witwatersrand favour an alkalki-barium-calcium technology to treat AMD water, but their detractors accuse them of punting a lower-cost technology simply to secure closure certificates. Hazardous waste from treating AMD water would be dumped in their slime dams, transferring the problem to the next rainy season.
Some believe a more elegant solution lies is diluting the salts from the AMD water with ion-exchange technology. Instead of being dumped, the waste could find application as a molten salt for South Africa’s future concentrating solar power needs.
The Department of Water Affairs entered the fray yesterday with a recommendation to reuse treated effluent from gold mines and specifically to conduct feasibility studies on the desalination of AMD water.
If this is an indicator of the solution the interministerial committee may propose, then it seems the government’s little secrets have already started to leak. And not a moment too soon. - Ingi Salgado
Crisis? What crises?
Motala plays down concern over Aurora’s water pumps
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Independent Newspapers
The Water Affairs Department says that once the pumps at Grootvlei have been replaced pumping of acid mine water will be up to scratch, noting there is no danger of flooding yet. Photo: Cara Viereckl.
Enver Motala, the liquidator of Aurora Empowerment Systems, brushed off concerns that the company had stopped pumping underground water at its Grootvlei operations in the East Rand a week ago as “nothing to worry about”.
The pumps are important to keep acid mine drainage, or polluted underground water from old mines, under control. The Mail & Guardian reported that the controversial company had ceased to pump rising underground water last Friday, and unless it came up with at least R20 million quickly the mine would close.
Motala said Aurora had stopped pumping because pumping stations were being refurbished for the past week.
“Pumps at the pumping stations have not been maintained adequately, and the company has to reinstall a new pump at a cost of between R20m and R50m,” Motala said.
He said the Departments of Mineral Resources and Water Affairs had given the installation of the pumps a thumbs up.
“There is nothing to worry about, it will take six months for the water to cause damage. Once the pump starts, water levels will be reduced… we have technical experts, including officials from the Department of Water Affairs, who have visited the site and they are happy with the work that is being done.”
Solidarity spokesman Gideon Du Plessis criticised Motala for being naive for thinking there was nothing to worry about.
He said Aurora had indicated it needed to pump out 106 megalitres of underground water every day.
“If a liquidator is not concerned, I can understand because mining is not their core business. The general state of Grootvlei is deteriorating, and there is a high risk of collapse,” said Du Plessis.
“We are extremely concerned, I mean logic tells you that Aurora will flood the area and neighbouring mines, because water levels are rising by 40cm to 50cm” a week.
Department of Water Affairs spokesman Sputnik Ratau confirmed that officials had visited the site for monitoring and were comfortable with the work done by Aurora.
“Once the pumps have been replaced pumping of water will be up to scratch. There is no danger of flooding yet,” said Ratau.
Aurora is owned by Zondwa Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, and Khulubuse Zuma, a nephew of President Jacob Zuma. - Dineo Matomela
Nedbank wades into the fray
Acid mine drainage a ‘binding constraint’ on economy
| SUE BLAINE |
Published: 2011/02/15 08:03:02 AM |
ACID mine drainage and "infrastructure issues" were "binding constraints" on SA’s economic growth and its ability to create jobs and improve social welfare, Nedbank ’s chief economist, Dennis Dykes, said yesterday.
The government has pledged, in its New Growth Path, to create 5 - million jobs by 2020 to reduce SA’s 25% unemployment rate.
SA needed practical solutions to calm the "severe headwinds" of water quality, quantity and accessibility, Mr Dykes said during a panel discussion at SA’s inaugural Water and Energy Forum yesterday.
The government’s policies, including the Industrial Policy Action Plan and the New Growth Path, did not pay enough attention to developing new, less energy-intensive industries from which SA could benefit, he told Business Day after the discussion.
These policies made only fleeting mention of these industries, the most obvious example being the world’s growing "green economy", focusing instead on "what SA has done well in the past", he said. "We need to look at our energy-intensive (industries) with a bit of a jaundiced eye. We need to … take account of the realities of the next couple of decades (and) … create new industries that are not energy-intensive."
SA is ranked among the world’s top 20 carbon dioxide ) emitters and has an economy built on fossil fuel- based electricity generation.
University of KwaZulu-Natal hydrology professor Roland Schultze said SA was largely a semidesert with an average annual rainfall of less than half the global annual average. SA already had a high-risk climate and water was the primary medium through which climate change affected communities, he said.
had surpassed scenario planners’ worst case scenario, he said.
Acid mine drainage was a "key ingredient" of the water problems facing SA and for decades mining houses and the government had "passed the parcel" regarding responsibility for cleaning up the damage done, and preventing further damage, Business Leadership SA’s CEO, Michael Spicer , said.
The Gauteng agriculture and rural development department’s acting director for air quality, Rina Taviv, said in 1997 the province had 470-million tons of mining waste and 15-million tons of general waste and the situation was "getting worse".
blaines@bdfm.co.za
Who pays?
Water polluters could foot bill for cleanups
| LINDA ENSOR |
Published: 2011/02/16 07:16:09 AM |
CAPE TOWN — Polluters of underground water will be made to pay for the cleanup if talks under way between Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan bear fruit.
Among the options being considered was an environmental tax or levy, Ms Molewa said during a parliamentary media briefing yesterday on the infrastructure development cluster.
Such a measure would prevent a situation in future where mines were left derelict and the government had to pick up the tab for dealing with the acid mine water drainage problem they left.
If mining companies relied on the government to clean up after them, the problem would continue in perpetuity, she said.
Ms Molewa also said that where possible, the Department of Environmental Affairs would try to track down the companies that left derelict mines — which now posed an acid mine drainage threat — so that they could bear the costs of dealing with it.
The minister gave assurances that the government would use its financial resources to deal with the immediate acid mine water problems in the Krugersdorp area. It would reveal details of its immediate plans once these were approved by the Cabinet, probably later this week, she said.
Decanting from closed mines was taking place and had been worsened by the recent rains.
In Mpumalanga, mining operators were treating acid mine drainage on their own.
Ms Molewa conceded that the problem of acid mine drainage in Gauteng was "quite bad, to say the least" and stressed that the government took it very seriously. It was not buying time, she said.
The decanting of acid mine water in Boksburg is expected to begin late next year.
Also high on the department’s agenda was the maintenance of water service infrastructure with municipalities to prevent leak s of water and sew age. This was an "enormous challenge" which would require billions and billions of rand , Ms Molewa said.
She reported that her department had identified seven new augmentation water resource infrastructure projects.
Preparations were on track for the completion of the Vaal River Eastern Sub-System Augmentation Project in Mpumalanga by May 2012, Ms Molewa said.
Preparations were also on track to implement the Komati Water Augmentation Scheme in Mpumalanga; the Mokolo from Crocodile Water Augmentation Project in Limpopo; and the project to raise the Hazelmere Dam in KwaZulu-Natal.
Published in Busines Day - 16 Feb 2011
Grootvlei - six months to go
Mines closed since the 50’s a water hazard - expert - Business Day
Aaron Wolf, head of the Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University in the United States says most SA mines operated until recently without proper monitoring| LIVHUWANI MAMMBURU |
Published: 2011/02/16 11:22:31 AM |
Acid mine drainage could have huge impact on the environment if it left unattended according to Professor Aaron Wolf, a world renowned water expert and professor of geography and chair of the Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University in the United States.
Wolf was in South Africa to attend a two day South African Water and Energy Forum in Sandton this week and warned that a great deal of mining in South Africa took place without proper monitoring.
"You find this kind of a problem precisely from the 50’s and 60’s of the mines that have closed down and abandoned and nobody is responsible," he said.
An expert at the interaction between water sciences and water policy, Wolf has acted as a consultant to the US Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and several governments on various aspects of water resources and dispute resolution.
Speaking to Business Day he said acid mine drainage can also affect the drinking water availability and required action including rehabilitation.
"There are two sides of the solution, one is technical, I think South Africa has played a technical expertise being able to treat the water and reclaim basins. The other is more difficult, that is the political will to make the expenses that are necessary to approach the problem as these big," he said.
Last year Business Day visited the Western Basin in which has been flooded since 2002 and it is located below the Krugersdorp-Randfontein area.
Mines in the area, some closed down, have left tailings dams which have damaged ground water causing acid levels to rise.
At the same time, the eastern mining basin is also flooding underground after last pump was switched off recently at Grootvlei mine.
According to Grootvlei mine liquidator, Enver Motala, the flooding could be contained for up to six months before it would breach the basin.
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