Friday, 13th October 2006 (4813 views)

Some 8,000 derelict mines in South Africa (SA) are due to undergo a rehabilitation programme, after the SA government announced more funding.

In an interview with Mining Weekly, SA Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) director for mine environmental policy, research and development Elize Swart explained the importance of rehabilitating these highly-hazardous derelict mines, many of which are gold.

She explained that the mines were closed originally due to a variety of factors. Mainly, the old mines were never built to modern environmental management standards. "Historical laws did not prescribe rigorous requirements for environmental management and mine closure," she said.

"Provisions for mine rehabilitation and closure in terms of the old Mines and Works Act introduced in 1956, were intended to make the mine safe, but did not address the environmental rehabilitation of the mine."

Other reasons included a change in the cost of running the mine. Gold, for instance, is sensitive to down cycles in price, which is why there are 490 derelict gold-mining shafts in Witwatersrand alone.

The government has now allocated R70 million (£5 million) to make inroads into the rebuilding of the derelict mines, in accordance with modern ecological procedures, making them less of a risk to the environment.

 

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