Last Updated on Aug 20, 2018

We have been covering Mining issues in South Africa extensively for the past 17 years but no subject on the matter is of greater importance than the absolute plethora of Abandoned Mines in South Africa and the devastation of Acid Mine Drainage pollution that is left in the wake.

In 2008 the Auditor General of South Africa released a report on all Abandoned Mines in South Africa which gave us an alarming figure of 5,906 abandoned mines across the country. It’s been some 10 years since that report and we are trying to raise the Auditor General for an update but have not heard back from them yet.

The WonderfonteinSpruit

Starting back in early 2007 was around the time when the media and Environmental NGO’s first started issuing serious public alerts to an issue that had been growing for well over a century. We attended one of the first mass meetings between media, environmental NGO’s, affected landowners and scientists at the Coetzee Dam just outside Carletonville in April of 2008. The Coetzee Dam had been turned into a toxic disaster from raw mine effluent (acid mine water) being pumped out of neighbouring gold mines directly into and through their property.

Major investigations into the cause and effect of Acid Mine Drainage and how it affected all the water systems in the Gauteng Province had been done for many years by Ms Mariette Liefferink from Public Environmental Arbiters. It was found that the entire Wonderfonteinspruit water system was utterly devastated through over 100 years of irresponsible mine effluent management and poor administration and oversight by the government. The Wonderfonteinspruit was declared an ecological disaster and signs were erected warning poor communities and farmers who take water from this water system not to do so.

Formation of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE)

On the 10th of November 2007 community members, landowners affected by Acid Mine Drainage, environmental NGO’s and organisations all met to establish the Federation for a Sustainable Environment seeing Ms Mariette Liefferink, South Africa’s Erin Brokovich placed at the helm as CEO.

The day saw lively even somewhat heated debates between attendees but saw the formation of an organisation with some clout that would start seeing change in the years ahead.

Open Public Access to Toxic Areas

Back to our day in Carletonville in April of 2008, well it was an extensive, in your face, eye opener to everyone who attended. Most were left somewhat shocked and almost speechless when seeing the scale of this devastation with their own eyes. Even though we had been dealing with mining issues for some time, we too were utterly shocked seeing the many things Ms Liefferink had uncovered in years prior to this public gathering in the flesh. We were even taken right into the Central Business District (CBD) of Carletonville to be faced with this scene below in a public drainage system leading right through the city and coming directly from the Mining Companies upstream. As can be seen in the image below, Bikers and Quad Bikers play in these drainage systems unaware of the dangers of breathing in the dust they create.

“The uranium concentration in the cattle samples from the experimental group (in the Wonderfonteinspruit catchment areas) was 126.7 times higher in the liver, 4350 times higher in the kidney, 47.75 times higher in the spleen, 31.6 times higher in the muscle tissue, 60 times higher in the bone and 129 times higher in the hair than that of the cattle samples from the control group,” says a 2012 North-West University report by David Hamman.

Toxic Radioactive Dust for Gauteng and Johannesburg

As a result of abandoned mines and massive unremediated mine dumps on the West Rand of Gauteng, highly radioactive Dust filled with Uranium, Cyanide and other lovey things blows all over the province especially when the August winds arrive. These photos below show the dust blowing off the top of the second tallest mine dump in South Africa on the 31st of August 2007 on a very windy day. This dust blows across the entire of Johannesburg and in parts of Bryanston in Johannesburg’s Northern suburbs elevated radioactivity readings higher than that at the source.

The Auditor General’s Report on Abandoned Mines

It was around the time of all this media and public attention that the Auditor General released a report on the Abandones Mines in South Africa which raised eyebrows even more. An alarming 5,906 abandoned mines across South Africa were reported by the Auditor General. Many of which are Gold Mines and specifically in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. What is even more alarming is their 2008 report was based on a map from Statistics South Africa dated 2003 entailing their report was already constructed on 5 year old statistics. Now in 2018 we are seeking an update to this as the original data is now well over 15 years old.

The Robinson Dam in Randfontein

In 2010 we then visited the Robinson Dam in the town of Randfontein on the West Rand of Gauteng. Believing we had been shocked in the past, nothing could have prepared us for the scene of sheer ecological devastation that we walked into on the 30th of June 2010 at the Robinson Dam. The Robinson Dam had been featured on the Sunday evening Investigative Journalism programme Carte Blanche which caused a public uproar.

For decades raw mine effluent, Acid Mine Water, had been continuously pumped directly and knowingly into the Robinson Dam by neighbouring abandoned Gold Mines. The Robinson Dam was actually a popular weekend tourism facility with people of Randfontein and neighbouring areas using this water playground swimming in it, boating in it and fishing in it.

The Robinson Dam was fenced off in about 2010 only after mass media attention to the problem. Up until then people were still using this dam and the public had unhindered access to it. Up until this point the mines that caused this had not done anything to address the problem.

The Tudor Shaft Informal Settlement

On this same day we also visited the Tudor Shaft informal settlement just outside the town of Krugersdorp along with one of the presenters of Carte Blanche and their film crew. What another scene of utter horror we were presented with. In South Africa informal settlements are very common as communities seek places to live close to where they can get work. Often these informal settlements spring up overnight on any abandoned land and this community happened to choose to live directly on top of an abandoned mine dump filled with Radioactive Uranium.

The area does not have running water and toilets they use the water which is polluted by acid mine drainage (AMD) and other heavy metals. Most of the community people are not working, the crime rate is due to unemployment and most of the people are too young to receive grants from government. The community grows vegetables in this soil and breathes in this toxic dust 24/7/365.

When uranium is ingested and deposited in organs such as kidneys, lungs, brains and bone marrow, energy-rich alpha particles can directly affect surrounding tissue. This community faces a plethora of health issues skin problems, eyesight problems, cancers, infertility and lung problems.

The local municipality has promised for over 10 years to relocate this community but as of today they are still living there. Political will does not seem to exist to help this community.

Revisiting the West Rand Goldfields in 2016

We revisited the West Rand Goldfields once again in 2016 with Ms Mariette Liefferink and a variety of interested parties. It was no surprise to see that in 6 years not too much had been done in most areas to alleviate the problem. Public still had open access and still used areas near the Tudor Shaft settlement as quick shortcuts to their settlements.

BUT there was indeed something that had changed

We were taken to the rehabilitation project being operated by Sibanye Gold and were most amazed to see some amazing progress in our years of dealing with this issue. The tallest mine dump in the world had finally met it’s match. Pictured in the featured photo at the top of this article one can see the Mount Everest of Mining that once stood here towering over the back of the Robinson Dam.

Sibanye Gold has setup a massive project to reclaim this mine dump, reprocess all the materials, extract a lot left over Gold from the early years of Gold Mining and rehabilitate this area which once was a wetland. Sibanye Gold had estimated that by 2018 this project would be completed and the area restored to the wetland it once was.

But not all was yet good

Visits to some other areas saw raw mine effluent still being pumped directly into the river system leading through the Krugersdorp game reserve and into the Magalies River Catchment. Once again we entered an area with one small sign but an open gate and no access control to get in.

Revisiting the West Rand Goldfields in 2017

We once again joined Ms Mariette Liefferink on another tour of the West Rand Goldfields in 2017 along with some other interested parties. The mine dumps and land owned by Mintails was still accessible by the public and no remediation whatsoever had been done. Where this photo below is taken, you literally drive just outside of the town of Krugersdorp stop your car on the side of the road and stand right here. There is no signs or fencing.

Where to from here?

Well there have been some small improvements like the Sibanye Gold rehabilitation project but these projects are costly to operate. Most of the abandoned mines sit with owners who are in serious financial debt and unable and also unwilling to do anything about it. Political will is almost non existent and with the fear of even more new mining projects facing South Africa we have a truly serious issue that right now seems unbeatable. It has now also become apparent that ANC government who wants to modify the constitution of South Africa to make expropriation of land without compensation legal is purely for minerals and self enrichment. We cannot deal with the 6000+ abandoned mines we already have but the government wants to dig even more holes and poison even more of our environment. This problem is a legacy that we will deal with for centuries.