Please see attached invitation to a meeting on the Acid Mine Drainage problem in the Magaliesburg / Cradle of Humankind area. The meeting is being held this Saturday (10 Dec) at the Maropeng Visitor Centre from 12am until 13:30am.
It would be an important time for the Magaliesburg and surrounding communities to engage with GDARD regarding not only current acid mine drainage contamination problems in the area but also to prevent the DMR from issuing ANY mining licenses in Koesterfontein, Goudkoppies and Golden Valley which will only further exacerbate the problems here and further downstream.
Our constitution states we have "the right to an environment that is not harmful to our health and well being" it is TIME to see this clause of the constitution upheld.
ENOUGH poisoning of our communities and groundwater .. ENOUGH !!!!
The Department of Water Affairs is racing against the clock to put out tender documents in the coming days for the construction and upgrading of water treatment plants to tackle acid mine drainage (AMD).
In a report back to the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on water and environmental affairs, the department and Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) outlined several steps that they have been taking to treat affected water now decanting from the Western Basin. They also outlined what they have done to stop rising water in two other basins, which if action isn’t taken, might reach the surface as early as August next year.
The department, through TCTA -- which was given a directive by the Minister of Water Affairs Edna Molewa in April to tackle AMD -- was to start with an immediate solution for the Western Basin between November and December by upgrading Rand Uranium’s existing treatment plant, so that the amount of treated water could be trebled to 36 mega litres.
Rand Uranium has agreed to fund a third of the operating costs.
The Magaliesberg probably has the most intriguing and longest session of history than anywhere else on earth. The reason for this is the discovery of the remains of the earliest species of primitive man known today, in and around the Sterkfontein Caves, some 20 minutes drive from Magaliesburg and a declared UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Cradle of Humankind. In 1947 Dr. Robert Broom extracted a well preserved fossil skull named “Mrs. Ples”, estimated to be around 2.3 million years old, from the world famous Sterkfontein Caves. More recently, in 1997, Professor Ron Clarke discovered “Little Foot”, an almost complete hominid skeleton aged at about 3.5 million years. Professor Clark describes the discovery of “Little Foot” as amongst the most significant palaeoanthropological finds ever made.
The scenic beauty and biodiversity value of the natural environment of the Magaliesburg is unquestionable. The value to man as a haven from the stress of urban life, and as an open space to enjoy, is clear. However, the archaeological interest in this area is as important as the natural aspects. The tourism potentials of the area far outweigh other negative forms of land usage and it's no secret that the Magaliesburg is the top weekend getaway destination from the hustle and bustle of city life in Johannesburg and surrounds. Magaliesburg is also one of the major gateway towns to the world famous UNESCO Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site providing a great majority of tourist accommodation and attractions and will soon host a visitor centre for the Cradle of Humankind which is planned to be built in the town.
Why is it then that this history and heritage is planned to be destroyed by Mining Companies, their Consultants and the Department of Mineral Resources?
Why is it that this historical town and surrounding lands was recently removed from the Cradle of Humankind's development buffer zone?
Cape Town - Mining companies shouldn't believe they can duck legal action against them when it comes to acid mine drainage (AMD) simply because of the complex nature of the problem, the chairman of the National Assembly's portfolio committee on water and environmental affairs, Johnny de Lange, cautioned today.
AMD, which can pollute the water table and cause earth tremors, is the result of water seeping up from abandoned or closed mine shafts.
Mining companies contend that it is difficult to apportion blame because of the large number of firms having been involved in mining on the reef - as far back as the 1880s - with some of them having since closed.
Responding to presentations by mining companies to the committee on how they would tackle the problem, de Lange said legal action against mining firms on AMD may have failed in the past, but this didn't mean it couldn't succeed in the future.
Cape Town – The National Treasury is looking at setting up a private-public partnership (PPP) and considering implementing an environmental levy to fund the rehabilitation of groundwater affected by acid mine drainage.
Alongside with these interventions, Treasury will also craft a long-term funding model to tackle the problem.
Acid mine drainage contaminates groundwater and leads to increased seismic activity, among other things.
On a follow up insert on Carte Blanche on Sunday the 6th of March 2011, some possible solutions were shown to viewers of how to clean up the Acid Mine Drainage Problem plagueing South Africa.
"The water problem, the mine effluent problem is not a water problem it's a salt problem. All of the technologies can manage - or many of them can produce clean water. What differentiates us is that we can usefully employ the salts and that is critical." - Richard Doyle (Managing Director: Earth)
Of the 3 solutions shown, one of them by a company called Earth looks to be the most promising. Richard Doyle's start-up company is turning the salts into fertiliser and explosives and attracting a lot of interest from overseas. What's best about his solutions thus far is that it creates it's own income and will not cost the taxpayer the money (we hope) to fix the AMD problem.
Dangerous levels of radioactivity in Gauteng's mine dumps will take decades and billions of rands to clear, say the scientists who blew the whistle on the province's acid mine drainage problem.
In the wake of the government's decision last week to set aside R225-million to treat toxic water in underground mine voids, the focus fell on cleaning up hundreds of tailings dumps and slimes dams across the Reef. According to the government report on acid mine drainage toxic residues in mine dumps are seeping into underground water and exacerbating the problem.
Anthony Turton, a scientist who raised the alarm about acid mine drainage a decade ago, said this week that sorting out the dumps would be difficult. "The sheer scale and complexity of dealing with radioactive dumps is far worse than the water problem," he said.
Families were already being moved and legal action was being threatened over the best way to deal with this legacy of the gold rush more than a century ago. Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said the tailings dumps and dams were historically sited on unlined dolomite, resulting in heavy metals and uranium seeping into groundwater.
"There are at least 270 tailings dams on the Witwatersrand that will continue causing acid mine drainage for hundreds of years," she said. Liefferink pointed to the recent relocation of families from a tailings dump at the Tudor Shaft informal settlement on the West Rand after radiation levels were found to be 15 times higher than normal.
Thirty-five of 197 affected families had been moved in the past fortnight after a world expert in uranium products, Chris Busby, found that radiation levels at Tudor Shaft were comparable with "the Chernobyl exclusion zone -- higher in fact". Other informal settlements, including Bull Brand, Soul City and Baghdad, and an RDP housing settlement established close to Tudor Shaft, might also have to be moved.
Contamination Like the escalation of acid mine drainage problems a decade ago, the focus on radioactive contamination started on the West Rand. A recent study by the Council for Geoscience showed residential areas such as Carletonville, Westonaria and Khutsong had a high risk of contamination.
"All the tailings dams on the West Rand contain sediment high in uranium," said Liefferink. "But Tudor Shaft is mirrored by all the other goldfields of the Witwatersrand. Residents are exposed to dust pollution from the mine dumps, contamination of water and crops and pollution of soil and other materials they use for construction."
Health risks included cancers, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, neurotoxic syndromes and growth deficiencies. Turton and the Gauteng government have compiled a report on the reclamation of "mine residue areas" that will be released next week for public input. "Our task is to decide what to do with the mine residue," he said. "Billions of rands could be involved."
What do you fear most -- nationalisation or acid mine drainage (AMD)? Chances are, particularly if you live in Gauteng, you're more worried about the latter. You may be able to survive the pernicious effects of nationalisation, but a water supply turned toxic is no basis for any future.
There are two main worries, one being that acidic underground water is rising, turning lakes into dead sludge and threatening tourist attractions such as Gold Reef City. Much of the Witwatersrand, it would appear, swims on a corrosive underpin.
The other worry, though, is that the government does not appear to have a plan to deal with AMD. The miners who created the problem in the first place, some as long ago as 120 years ago, have packed their bags, leaving hundreds of open mine shafts and tailings dams which, in some cases, have sufficient radioactivity, to make the area unsuitable for human habitation.
Last week the government made a long-awaited report available which it has commissioned for an inter-ministerial committee tasked to deal with the AMD issue.
WORK has begun on a plan to ensure pumps are in place by March next year to manage acid mine drainage in the Witwatersrand area, Department of Water Affairs spokesman Sputnik Ratau said yesterday.
The report of an interministerial committee on acid mine drainage was posted on the department’s website yesterday, a day before the committee’s deadline to respond to nongovernmental organisations’ application for the report to be released under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
The report received mixed reactions but there was widespread relief that the government had acknowledged the urgency of the problem. Acid mine drainage is already polluting water on the West Rand. Gold Reef City, on the Central Witwatersrand Basin, stands to be contaminated if acid mine drainage is not well managed there.
The committee ’s first recommendation was to pump water out of the Witwatersrand’s Western, Central and Eastern basins to maintain levels "at least below the relevant environmental critical levels". Steps also had to be taken to reduce the flooding of acid mine drainage into abandoned mines .
Risks included increased seismic activity, contamination of shallow groundwater resources, "geotechnical impacts" in areas where water rises close to urban areas, and serious environmental and ecological consequences , including to sites of international importance.
The Department of Water Affairs is racing against the clock to put out tender documents in the coming days for the construction and upgrading of water treatment plants to tackle acid mine drainage (AMD).
The Magaliesberg probably has the most intriguing and longest session of history than anywhere else on earth. The reason for this is the discovery of the remains of the earliest species of primitive man known today, in and around the Sterkfontein Caves, some 20 minutes drive from Magaliesburg and a declared UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Cradle of Humankind. In 1947 Dr. Robert Broom extracted a well preserved fossil skull named “Mrs. Ples”, estimated to be around 2.3 million years old, from the world famous Sterkfontein Caves. More recently, in 1997, Professor Ron Clarke discovered “Little Foot”, an almost complete hominid skeleton aged at about 3.5 million years. Professor Clark describes the discovery of “Little Foot” as amongst 
Department says plan to manage acid mine water drainage in the Witwatersrand area in place.
