African Wildlife and Environment Issue 70

CONSERVATION

CONSERVATION

Referring to the three dumps with the known highest hazard rating, we collectively need to engage our minds in an appropriate solution-seeking framework. For reasons that today seem obscure, those three dumps, known as MRAs 172, 188 and 189, are all built on dolomite. This means that a significant pollution plume, rich in uranium, is emanating from this epicenter. We cannot blame the miners, because the positioning of those dumps was done decades ago before the uranium hazard was known about, so we need to accept that the problem is there and needs to be dealt with. An ideal solution would be to reprocess the tailings to remove residual gold and other metals, before being placed back into the void once again. This would certainly be in the best interest of society, but the economics don’t stack up. We might be forced to accept that the wetlands are the most viable sink and elevate their management to one of greater strategic importance. This means that the illegal mining of gold, from the peat in the wetlands, must be stopped. Such mining is hazardous to the Zama Zama operators, because of direct exposure to uranium and the mercury they use to extract the gold, but it also releases both uranium and mercury back into the environment. This has obvious

policy reform that encourages the rehabilitation of highly contaminated wetland systems. Without this policy debate, the likelihood of rehabilitation remans slim and future generations will continue to bear the cost of wealth wrestled from the bowels of the earth by the past generations.

health implications, most notably to the residents of communities that derive their drinking water from rivers flowing through contaminated wetlands. The known presence of an isolated population of African Bullfrog, eking out a precarious existence in one of the wetlands in the upper Wonderfontein Spruit, shows that some species are resilient. With just a little help they can make a comeback and we can see the return of some biodiversity. We need a robust debate, driven by the conservation community, with a view to reaching consensus about the best way forward. In this debate we need to also create a more profound understanding of the Zama Zama problem. All indications are that as legal mining ceases, there is still enough gold to sustain illegal mining for at least a century. Pillars left underground, to protect haulages and shafts, are easily accessible and rich in gold, but they also hold the roof up. These are being systematically removed in the Western Basin, with known extraction of the pillars holding up the R28 between Krugersdorp and Randfontein, as well as the adjacent railway line. Collapse of these major pieces of infrastructure is inevitable. Once consensus has been reached, we have a realistic chance to drive

Hydrogeological profile Western Basin

Closure mining

FURTHER READING Coetzee, H., Wade, P. & Winde, F. 2002. Reliance on Existing Wetlands for Pollution Control Around the Witwatersrand Gold/Uranium Mines in South Africa – Are They Sufficient? In Merkel, B.J., Planer Friederich, B. & Wolkersdorfer, C. (Eds.). 2002. Uranium in the Aquatic Environment. Berlin: Springer. Pp 59-65. Coetzee, H., Winde, F. & Wade, P.W. 2006. An Assessment of Sources, Pathways, Mechanisms and Risks of Current and Potential Future Pollution of Water and Sediments in Gold-Mining Areas of the Wonderfonteinspruit Catchment. WRC Report No. 1214/1/06. Pretoria: Water Research Commission. Swart, C.J.U., Kleyweght, R.J. & Stoch, E.J. 2003. The Future of Dolomitic Springs after Mine Closure on the Far West Rand, Gauteng, RSA. Environmental Geology (44). Pp 751 – 770. Turton, A.R. 2015. Untying the Gordian Knot: Unintended Consequences of Environmental and Water Policy for the Gold Mining Industry in South Africa. In Water International, Vol. 41; Issue 3. Pp 330 – 350. Van Veelen, M. 2011. Wonderfonteinspruit Catchment Area Remediation Plan. Report by the Radioactive Contamination Specialist Task Team. Report on Site Visits and Recommended Actions . Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR). Winde, F. & Van Der Walt, I.J. 2004. The Significance of Groundwater-Stream Interactions and Fluctuating Stream Chemistry on Waterborne Uranium Contamination of Streams – A Case Study from a Gold Mining Site in South Africa. In Journal of Hydrology , 287. Pp 178-196.

Prof Anthony Turton Centre for Environmental Management University of Free State

Photograph: By Steven G. Johnson (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)

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