19 March 2010
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Department of Water Affairs announced on Thursday that it had made a R6,9-million subsidy available to assist the mines with the toxic tide of acid mine drainage (AMD) currently decanting in the west rand of Johannesburg.
Speaking at a media gathering at Rand Uranium’s operations near Randfontein, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that the AMD problem and the cleaning of the water was of top priority to the department.
“The department and the mines are in partnership to take on this inherited liability, caused by a 120-years of gold mining in the area. We have made these funds available over the next three months and are prepared to engage in further investment to aid the mines with the AMD problem,” said Sonjica.
The subsidy would be used to increase the pumping and treatment capacity of Rand Uranium’s and Mintails’ water treatment plants, and assist with dosing of the overflow AMD before it entered the water systems in the area.
Rand Uranium CEO John Munro told Mining Weekly Online that the mines in the area had been battling to keep the AMD under the surface, owing to the relentless downpour of rain during the past couple of months.
He said that Rand Uranium had been pumping and treating about 13-million litres of water a day to try and contain the toxic tide. With the subsidy from the State, the company would now be able to treat an additional 2,5-million litres of water every day.
Further, the subsidy would allow another mining company in the area, Mintails, to pump and treat about five-million litres of water a day. Two dosing plants had also been constructed to act as a “last-resort-buffer” for the overflow of AMD.
Munro said that the overflow would be dosed with calcium carbonate and calcium hydroxide to partially treat the water before it entered the Krugersdorp Game Reserve.
However, Sonjica noted that this was only an interim solution, as the water still contained high levels of sulphates.
“We are sitting on a ticking time bomb, as it is predicted that AMD will also decant in the central and eastern basins of Johannesburg, as soon as next year and at three times the magnitude.
“The department is in conversation with the mines, and other role players to decide on a sustainable, long-term, solution to the problem, before it is too late.”
She assured the audience that a final decision would be taken shortly.
The department’s subsidy would be managed on a produce-and-invoice basis for the next three months, at which point the situation would be reviewed.
By: Loni Prinsloo
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
Source: Mining Weekly
IMAGE: GrungeTextures/Flickr
