- Title: Rich mining legacy is poisonous future in parts of South Africa
- Date: 18th April 2017
- Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INTERIOR OF MINE, GOLD BEING MELTED GOLD BARS
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2017 12:00
- Keywords: mine mining TB cancer pollution Krugersdorp
- Location: KRUGERSDORP, PRETORIA, AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- City: KRUGERSDORP, PRETORIA, AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0026CXEGKB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: South Africa's Gauteng province holds some of the biggest gold deposits on earth. But extracting these resources has left a dangerous legacy for communities in some areas as mines dug more than a century ago leak a toxic cocktail of chemicals.
Acid mine drainage (AMD) results from the outflow of acidic water from mines, and often affected water supplies develop pH levels similar to those of battery acid, rendering the water harmful to humans as well animal and plant life.
Tudor Shaft is an informal settlement on the outskirts of Krugersdorp - a mining city built on the discovery of gold in the 1800's. The population of close to 2000 residents is surrounded by mine dumps.
Researchers say residents here have been exposed to AMD as well as other forms of pollution from mines like contaminated dust and radiation that can cause medical problems ranging from cancer, to respiratory and skin diseases.
"This Community has been exposed for decades, more than a decade to the dust fallout from the tailing storage facilities, the physical risks from open cast mining and blasting, as well as the staying on contaminated land. Some also grew their vegetables on contaminated soil. There is Radon exposure. There is both inhalation and ingestion of radioactive dust," said Mariette Liefferink, CEO for South Africa's Federation for a Sustainable Environment.
Janette Matshwisa lives in Tudor Shaft with her husband and two children. She says she has been diagnosed with TB - a disease that killed her mother, who also lived in the area.
"My mother is dead because of this place. She died in 2007. She was diagnosed with TB also. Then they told me that the dust is inside her lungs then she passed away," she said.
A 2016 investigation by the Harvard Law School found South Africa had failed to protect residents affected by the pollution from contaminated water and mine dumps.
The institution's International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) said successive governments including the current administration had not complied with international law, reacting too slowly and doing too little to reduce the harm from abandoned and active mines near Johannesburg - also known as the "City of Gold".
The report said the government gave only limited warnings of the risks, did not perform enough scientific studies on the health effects, and rarely engaged with residents.
After the report was released, the government said it had set aside an estimated 1.2 billion rand (87 million US dollars) in 2011 to clean up acidic water.
In May last year authorities gave the go-ahead for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis.
Recently, a relocation process was launched in Tudor Shaft but activists say it has been very slow.
Also, due to a housing shortage in the province, vacant sites quickly attract new residents, triggering a vicious cycle because not enough has been done to raise awareness about the dangers in the area.
"We have to move, now the problem is, the people who are moving us to allocating, the people here are taking out they need some birth certificates all such, but now when we go to housing they say they don't know us or others that we don't stay here even we stay here, there are people who are coming from other places, they come and register here. They get houses there. They say, we will go, we will go, and we wait for them, they will call us, still waiting until now," said William Phanyana, Tudor shift resident.
The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) says a clean-up project in Tudor Shaft and other areas is ongoing and that they have prioritized the operation for the next two to three years.
"I think the important point is for us as an organization to do more detailed planning and get all the stakeholders in the same place and to make sure we now projectize the cleanup of the Tudor Shaft and to make sure that we can involve all our stakeholders to ensure them that we are actually serious now," said NNR senior manager, Orion Phillips.
South Africa's water ministry announced plans last year to charge mining firms two-thirds of the cost for treating polluted water emanating from their century-long operations in Johannesburg's mining belt.
Mining firms said the charges were unfair and would put the ailing industry under further financial strain as the country reels from a slide in commodities prices that has been in part responsible for plunging output. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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