Analysis of the Current Legal Framework Protecting the Health of Communities Near Gold Mine Tailings in South Africa (original) (raw)
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Groundwater Conference Proceedings, 2014
Current legislation in South Africa provides a comprehensive framework for the protection of the environment and the management of potentially damaging activities. Much of this framework is based on the assumption that the proposed activity will cause a deterioration of the environment, and that management measures need to be put in place to minimise environmental impacts. While such legislation is necessary for new activities, it does not provide adequately for the undertaking of remedial interventions at existing or historic situations, or interventions to prevent pollution under emergency circumstances, which aim to address a potentially harmful situation, prevent damage to the environment, or improve a degraded environment. Currently, such remedial or emergency interventions are subject to the same legal requirements as proposed activities, which leads to unnecessary costs and delays when implementing remedial or emergency interventions and can lead to a situation where the only legal option is to allow pollution to continue. There are however formalised approaches which draw a clear distinction between planned impacts as opposed to existing impacts, where risk needs to be constrained as a matter of urgency. Approaches based on such distinction provide useful guidance towards the development of a regulatory regime that acknowledge existing risks and aims to improve a potentially harmful situation. This paper will discuss the existing legislative framework for the control of potential impacts on the environment, present case studies outlining how the inappropriate application of legislation has hindered environmental rehabilitation, outlines an alternative approach adopted by the international health physics community, and propose a regulatory approach towards the effective implementation of remedial or emergency interventions, especially for the rehabilitation of mining legacies.
South African Legislation Pertinent to Gold Mine Closure and Residual Risk
2007
Mining is an important contributor to the South African economy but has the potential for significant negative impacts on the environment. Under section 24 of the Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 (the Constitution), the right to environmental health has been elevated to a basic human right, and since 1998 a series of Acts have been promulgated to prioritize environmental protection. In addition, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (the MPRDA) and its Regulations (GN R527 in Government Gazette 26275 of 23 April 2004) have been promulgated to regulate the minerals and petroleum industry in terms of constitutional requirements. The MPRDA attempts to ensure sustainable development of mineral resources, equitable access to the benefits, better environmental protection, and includes provisions for mine closure. We reviewed the legislation applicable to mine closure to assess whether it adequately addresses constitutional and environmental requirements, including known risks to gold mine closure. Although the MPRDA does aim to provide for the protection of the environment at mine closure, it currently contains some flaws and gaps which need to be addressed. Some of the gaps are however potentially addressed by the provisions of other legislation, such as the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (the NEMA) and the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (the NWA). A key requirement of the MPRDA is for mining companies to undertake the necessary studies to determine the quantum required for the rehabilitation or management of impacts, and to make sufficient financial provision for these. In this regard a guideline document has been published to assist the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) when reviewing the quantum of provisioning. The MPRDA also attempts to establish an exit route whereby mining companies, which demonstrate an agreed degree of environmental compliance, can then transfer their remaining liabilities to the State or a third party together with sufficient funds to address them. However, if funds are insufficient, the mining company and the directors in their personal capacity remain liable. Thus it is vital that mining companies and directors keep abreast of international trends in order to pro-actively minimize their exposure. Un-answered questions relate largely to end land-uses and restrictions thereon. Based on current information, we consider residential townships, edible crop production and livestock grazing to be high risk land-uses for tailings storage facilities (TSFs), TSF footprints and areas within the aqueous or aerial zone of influence of TSFs and metallurgical plants in South Africa. Failure by the regulators and industry to agree on suitable `soft' end land-uses and buffer zones could exacerbate liabilities for closing mines by resulting in subsequent land-uses that are sub-economic or risky. Mine Closure 2007 -A. Fourie, M. Tibbett and J. Wiertz (eds)
2021
Gold mining generates large quantities of tailings waste. These tailings can have a significant negative impact on the surrounding environment, with concomitant effects on local ecosystems, as well as on human health and quality of livelihoods. The latter is a concern in the Witwatersrand goldfields of South Africa, where communities are located in close proximity to gold mining operations and/or both current and defunct tailings dumps. This research project was, therefore, aimed at developing a better understanding of the facts, perceptions, concerns, and expectations associated with Witwatersrand gold mine tailings storage facilities, and how these are related. In order to fulfil this aim, a desktop study was conducted which involved a detailed review of published academic literature, company reports, newspaper articles, gold mining magazines, and specialist reports with specific emphasis placed on the Central Rand goldfields of the Witwatersrand Basin. Semi-structured interviews ...
Gold mining in South Africa has been taking place since the late 19th Century. This activity has produced a wealth of richness for the country, but also has contributed to create environmentally destructed environments. The West Rand Municipal region is the area of focus in this paper. Possible negative environmental health outcome scenarios in especially the pollution of the area's water resources-have been speculated on in scientific reports and in occasional whistle blowing efforts. Some include official reports with regard to a radioactive contamination of the physical and man-changed environment; nonradioactive chemicals found in the residues and wastes produced by gold mining; radon gas and windblown dust. Primarily because of whistle blowing efforts, as based on scientific reports, concerns regarding human health became more intense. The paper mainly provides a concise historiography regarding the close to 100 years of environmental research by especially scientists on the West Rand region, and references to possible health risks. In conclusion ideas will be exchanged on current environmental remedial actions with a motivation for definite health related research to support environmental remedial processes.
This report stems from the Bench Marks Foundation’s concern about issues of ethical investment, corporate social responsibility and accountability in South Africa. This year, 2017, marks ten years of reporting by the Bench Marks Foundation on the impact of mining on near-mine communities and on the environment. Most of our work up to now has focused on rural communities on the platinum belt in the North-West Province and Limpopo, the diamond fields along the west coast of South Africa, and the coal fields in Mpumalanga. Yet, our offices in Marshall Street, Johannesburg, are in the heart of the city where the mining revolution in South Africa first captured the global imagination after the discovery of gold in 1886. The focus of this report is on the people who provided the sweat equity for that mineral revolution, but who were precluded by political fiat from participating in either the ownership of the mines or in the wealth generated by them, namely the African majority in South Africa. Their labour was needed, but their presence in the ‘City of Gold’ was resented. Consequently, they were forced to live on the worst, least valuable land in the city, namely the land on which both urban and mine waste was deposited. Industrial mining in Johannesburg is more-or-less done and dusted. However, the destructive environmental and health impact of mining on the near-mine communities rages on unabated. The research team involved in this study chose the communities of Riverlea, Diepkloof, Meadowlands and Doornkop (in Snake Park) as focus communities because they are located where the mine waste belt ends. The people in these communities live in the shadow of immense mine waste dumps and, as this report will show, with dire consequences. The team chose the Community of Danville in Mafikeng as a control study, because Danville is a township with housing that has asbestos roofs and in all ways approximates Riverlea, Diepkloof, Meadowlands and Snake Park, except that there is no mining in close proximity to Danville (past or present). The report starts with a socio-geological historical overview that addresses key questions about popular international and national perceptions about Soweto. Although the first forced resettlements of people in Kliptown (a township in Soweto) took place between 1904 and 1906, academic interest in Soweto’s history seems to start only with the student uprisings of 1976. This is followed by an outline of the geological history of the Witwatersrand in general and the basin in which Soweto, as a collection of townships, evolved. This geological history is important because many of both the positive and negative impacts of mining the longest lasting gold reef in the world derive from it. The impacts on water, air, soil, ecosystems and human health and well-being, hydrology and metrology is also investigated, for on the Rand the predominant directions of the wind will determine ‘who eats dust’, and in which direction sewage and waste flows. The history of Soweto is then traced, showing how it was shaped by concerns for the health and well-being of Johannesburg’s ‘white European’ population, and their racial attitudes towards the ‘black African’ population. The dependence of the ‘white’ population and that of the mining industry on the cheap labour supplied by the black population led to an overdeveloped suburban society on the northern side of the ridge that separates Johannesburg from the underdeveloped, poverty stricken South Western Townships (Soweto), where cheap dormitory housing was built for Johannesburg’s black working class. This separation of races was central to apartheid, which had a political dimension, an economic/class dimension, a physical geographical dimension and an ecological dimension, which, as Vandana Shiva points out, is unfolding globally as we speak (Shiva, 2012). Finally, the empirical findings from the four Soweto communities, Riverlea, Diepkloof, Meadowlands and Doornkop (in Snake Park informal settlement) are outlined in more detail, although it has been touched upon throughout the report. The health concerns raised are traced to their possible origins in the impacts of mining along the Eastern, Northern and North-Western rim of Soweto. A control study was carried out in Danville Township near Mafikeng, where there is no mining at all (past or present).
Hazards identified and the Need for Health Risk Assessment in the South African Mining Industry
Although mining plays a prominent role in the economy of South Africa, it is associated with many chemical hazards. Exposure to dust from mining can lead to many pathological effects depending on mineralogical composition, size, shape, and levels and duration of exposure. Mining and processing of minerals also result in occupational exposure to toxic substances such as platinum, chromium, vanadium, manganese, mercury, cyanide and diesel particulate. South Africa has set OELs (Occupational Exposure Limits) for some hazards but mine workers are still at a risk. Since the hazard posed by a mineral depends on its physiochemical properties it is recommended that South Africa should not simply adopt OELs from other countries but rather set her own standards based on local toxicity studies. The limits should take into account the issue of mixtures to which workers could be exposed as well as the health status of the workers. The mining industry is also a source of contamination of the environment, due inter alia to the large areas of tailings dams and dumps left behind. Therefore, there is need to develop guidelines for safe land-uses of contaminated lands after mine closure.
Faculty of Law, 2021
First and foremost, I thank the Lord Almighty who has granted me strength, grace and good health through out my masters programme at the University of Cape Town. I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Hanri Mostert whose great wealth of knowledge, support and guidance enabled key input in this dissertation. I also wish to express my sincerest gratitude to my co-supervisor Richard Henry Cramer for his patience, guidance and continuous feedback as I put together the Chapters in this research. Great thanks to the Mineral Law in Africa (MLiA) writing circle and later the 'Gold Group' for their feedback, constructive input and suggestions as I wrote this dissertation. Thanks to MLiA Class of 2019/2020 for the interactive sessions and lighting up the classroom. Special thanks to my parents, Joseph and Ruth for your unwavering support, prayers, provision and encouragement and support throughout. My siblings Jemimah and Andrew, your support, prayers, friendship and encouragement has carried me through. Great thanks to Martha, you were instrumental in my pursuit for a master's degree at the University of Cape Town; many thanks for your friendship. Many thanks to my friends who not only made Cape Town memorable but also encouraged me in my studies. Great thanks also to my friends from my home country Kenya who checked up on me regularly and cheered me on.