The existence of 6 000 abandoned mines across the country and its impact on communities and environment has put the spotlight on mine rehabilitation, or the lack thereof.
An example of such a mine dump is Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) which is a health and safety hazard to the nearby Riverlea community and the environment.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources, DRD has since sold these dumps to Mintails as movable assets, without their involvement.
Acid Mine Drainage from the dump left by the DRD mine is threatening South Africa’s water system and the well-being of residents in Riverlea, in the western part of Johannesburg
Acid Mine Drainage occurs when water reacts with pyrites or ‘fool’s gold’ in mining cavities beneath the Earth’s surface. The water becomes acidic and rich in iron, lead, and other heavy metals, a combination that is toxic to living organisms.
This water then joins the groundwater system, sterilises the soil, and eventually flows into streams and rivers where it could join the drinking water supply system.
Benchmarks Foundation’s Researcher, David van Wyk says the rehabilitation at the DRD site is not up to scratch.
“If you were a corporate responsible citizen, you would have had fencing around the site, you would have had signposts around the site, you would have explanatory boards telling people how dangerous it is to be here. As you could see as we walked here there are children from the community, its school holidays, the children are playing here. This is a very polluted site. What we have here is sulphur, we have arsenic, we have uranium.” -Reporting by Lebo Tshangela and Mayleen Vincent-Bester
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