Abstract
Mining is important for the South African economy, as it is for many developing African nations. In 2017, mining was reported to contribute 6.8 % to the South African GDP and provided more than 460, 000 jobs. Though mining adds an enormous amount of value to the country, it has significant impacts on the environment and the socio-economic factors of society. The well-documented environmental impact of mining operations on surface and groundwater systems, known as Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), is just one of these environmental impacts. There are also other impacts such as the pollution of agricultural soils, the creation of sinkholes and air pollution. For example, airborne dust remains a persistent problem in South African urban areas due to the climatic conditions, extensive surface mining, unrehabilitated tailings storage facilities and mineral processing. However, very little is reported on the socio-economic costs that are due to poor environmental management. Some scholars assert that despite the Mine Health and Safety Act, deposition monitoring guidelines and national dust regulations, South Africa still experiences persistent dust problems, especially in coal and gold mining districts. This paper investigates the effect of gold mining dust pollution in and around a Gold Mining Village, in South Africa. A quantitative and qualitative approach was used, where a questionnaire and interviews were conducted to examine the Gold Mine Village perceptions on dust pollution and their socio-economic environment. This paper further examines how poor and premature mine closure by liquidation results in unrehabilitated mine tailings and how this has significant impacts on the socio-economic status of individuals and surrounding businesses. The community being investigated in this study, perceives the dust fallout impact to be a socio-economic threat. The paper finds that the community believes it incurs medical financial expenditures due to treating respiratory-related diseases triggered by dust fallout.
Highlights
The profitability of gold mining operations in South Africa has been reduced through increases in labour and operational costs, and stagnant productivity (Minerals Council of South Africa 2018)
The community perceives that conditions resulting from the unrehabilitated tailing dumps do affect their health, well-being and economic status
The South African mining regulatory frameworks and dust standards seem robust, compliance, management and mitigation strategies seem to be offset by conflicting regulations such as the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), MPRDA with the Companies Act, 1973 and the Companies Act, 2008
Summary
The profitability of gold mining operations in South Africa has been reduced through increases in labour and operational costs, and stagnant productivity (Minerals Council of South Africa 2018). According to Olalde (2017), the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) documents show the fund sits at about R35 million, a level admitted by the gold mining company to be vastly inadequate to clean up the mine Another example of a liquidated mining company is Mintails Mining South Africa; which holds three mining rights, which cover an area of 1751 hectares near Krugersdorp. During the process of liquidation of a mining company, the financial provision for rehabilitation seems not to be recognised as a special claim against the company’s assets to be set aside before satisfying creditors This forms part of the reason why some mining-affected communities like the gold mining village are faced with environmental impacts from unrehabilitated tailings storage facilities. Environmental degradation due to a failure to rehabilitate tailings storage facilities by mining companies infringes human and socio-economic rights. Validity was tested by comparing the two wards, and how the households responded was found to be similar
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