The 380 mine dumps and slimes dams in Gauteng could be a far bigger threat than acid mine drainage (AMD).
They are causing radioactive dust fallout, toxic water pollution and soil contamination, according to the final draft of a new report by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) on mine residue areas (MRAs), called for by Premier Nomvula Mokonyane “as a potential provincial priority”.
The report was completed in July but is yet to be released.
It warns that if the province doesn’t act, “Joburg will eventually be seen as an old mining town that has reached the end of its working life”, with banks redlining (refusing) to finance any homes or development near the dumps.
The report found that most MRAs – including mine dumps, waste rocks dumps and water storage facilities – in Gauteng are radioactive “because the Witwatersrand gold-bearing ores contain almost 10 times the amount of uranium in gold.
“These radioactive tailings co-exist in these MRAs alongside the iron sulphide mineral pyrite, which reacts in the presence of oxygen and water to form a sulphuric acid solution – the main cause of acid mine drainage,” says the report, Feasibility Study on Reclamation of Mine Residue Areas for Development Purposes: Phase II Strategy and Implementation Plan, co-written by water scientist Anthony Turton.
But it says that the broader issue of “diffuse sources” of pollution represented by the mine dumps and slimes dams and their possible interactions with rainfall, seepage, surface water runoff and shallow groundwater “is possibly more important than the impact of AMD” in Gauteng.
In February, the Saturday Star revealed how the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) had recommended the relocation of residents of Tudor Shaft informal settlement, on an old radioactive mine dump, in Krugersdorp. The report suggests that this NNR ruling is “likely to become a watershed ruling likely to be relevant for a number of other sites” and that high-risk informal settlements will need to be relocated to minimise human health risks.
It singles out the dangers of ground instability and the collapse above abandoned mine workings and around open mine shafts that present a danger to nearby informal settlements as well as the danger of wind-blown mine dust being inhaled, damaging lung tissue, resulting in respiratory diseases.
The department will survey and map all MRAs “with a view to determining the physical location of each source of hazard – chemical, radiological and physical” and quantify risks. - Saturday Star