Diffuse pollution associated with the mining sectors in South Africa: a first-order assessment

Abstract

Internationally it has become recognised that diffuse source water pollution from mining activities severely affects the degradation of water quality especially with regards to acidification and metal loading. South Africa is facing major problems with regard to the management and treatment of contaminated mine water. Very little has been published for South Africa about the quantities and qualities of diffuse source water pollution by the mining industry. Furthermore the available information has not yet been compiled into a consolidated overview that presents the total picture. Some of the problems that limit the use of the available information and would necessitate further processing to normalise the data, derive from the fact that the investigations producing the information were done at different times, to different levels of detail and using different approaches. A further complicating factor is that data for some mining commodities may not be available and may necessitate further investigation. The overview of the quantities and qualities of non-point source effluent production by different sectors needs to be interpreted in terms of the effect the effluent can be expected to have on receiving water quality (both surface and groundwater). It would thus be necessary to categorise waste types according to their effect on water quality and synthesise the data to obtain an estimate of the threat that different sectors and sub-sectors pose to receiving water quality.