WIN WIN: A women-driven initiative for the cleanup of mine dump residue (2020)

Kym L Morton PhD MBA
KLM Consulting Services, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract
South Africa’s heritage of over 150 years of gold mining in the Witwatersrand area is continuous exposure of sulphide rich soils and mine dump residue to rainwater. Rainwater increases the acidity in the soils and ground water contributing to the acid mine drainage problem prevalent across 120km of semi-urbanised land. Many of the easily accessible dumps have been removed by mechanised hydro-mining leaving behind thick skins of toxic sediments and contaminated soils. Collection and clean-up of the residual soils requires manual labour. Polluted land has a reduced value despite being very close to fast growing nodes of urbanisation. This short paper describes how the South Africa Government’s Working for Water Programme (WfW) can be adapted to create a WIN WIN programme where training and employment can be used to remove polluted sediments and pay for itself by selling the valuable metals and increasing the
value of the land. The paper concludes by listing the advantages of the WfW clean up to social development, water protection and economic development of the Witwatersrand. Implementation in other polluted areas is a possible add-on.
Keywords: ICARD | IMWA | MWD 2018, WIN-WIN, water protection, ground water protection, land values and social upliftment

Morton, K.L. (2020) ‘WIN WIN: A women-driven initiative for the cleanup of mine dump residue’, SAIMM Tailings Conference, Johannesburg, 10–13 February 2020.