Abstract
In Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, an underground coal mine lies above areas of a gold mine and there are concerns that preferential flow paths might connect the two mines, allowing flow from the coal mine into the gold mine. There is also a risk that subsidence associated with the coal mining will damage existing geohydrological barriers between the shallow Karoo aquifer where the coal mining takes place and the deeper Witwatersrand aquifer where the gold is mined. Damage to these geohydrological barriers could increase groundwater influx from the surface (gold mine slimes dams), as well as from the Karoo aquifer, into the Witwatersrand aquifer. Hydro-chemical sampling was used to determine interaction between the two aquifers. Certain high risk areas for potential interaction were identified after considering factors such as the depth and areas of mining, the location of tailings storage facilities, and preferential pathways.
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