Acid drainage fiasco 'unavoidable'

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Source: http://www.miningmx.com/news/markets/Acid-drainage-fiasco-unavoidable.htm
THE deadline for preventing rising acid mine drainage to cause a massive ecological disaster in the Central Witwatersrand has come and gone – because of government’s indecision.

Acid mine drainage will, according to a scientific model, rise to the ecologically perilous level of 150 metres below the surface by 2012 – and after the end of October this year nothing humanly possible can be done to avoid this.

From February 2012 onwards, acid mine effluent will rapidly start to erode dolomite structures in Johannesburg and the near East Rand, and shortly thereafter the water will poison boreholes and fountains – as has been happening on the West Rand in the Cradle of Humankind, the Krugersdorp Game Reserve and the Sterkfontein caves since September 2002.

Some weeks later the first acid water will emerge above ground at Cinderella East, an old, abandoned shaft less than 100 metres from Rondebult Road in Boksburg – very close to Boksburg’s central business district.

According to the model, the effluent there will be 57 megalitres (million litres) a day – four times that on the West Rand, where 15.7 megalitres is being discharged every day.

Proposals to avoid this disaster have been in government’s hands for more than two years, but nothing has been done. A plan to avoid the crisis should have been implemented by October.

The model for the calculation was compiled by various scientists, mainly geohydrologists, over more than 15 years.

Marius van Biljon, who has an MSc degree in geohydrology, started doing these calculations in the Western Witwatersrand in the mid-90s, at the behest of the old JCI. By 1998 he had computed that in October 2002 the first mine water would flow from the old Swartrif shaft near the Epol plant in Randfontein.

His calculation was out by two weeks, because the water started to flow out in September 2002, and is today the cause of massive pollution of river systems in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, Cradle of Humankind and Sterkfontein Caves.

It is also poisoning farm dams and other natural water sources.
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The model showed that the water would reach the critical environmental level (CEL) by February 2012, said Van Biljon. The CEL is the point at which the acid water will reach the low-lying dolomite, destroy it and cause sinkholes – in the Central Basin, right in the centre of the country's most populous areas.
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To date the model’s accuracy has proved to be above 95%.

Scientists involved in compiling the model have until now been unwilling to comment on it for ethical reasons, but remarks by Trevor Manuel, the Planning Commission Minister in the Presidency, greatly alarmed them.

In August this year Manuel said that what was needed was a national conversation on an empirical basis, because the idea that acid mine drainage would run through the streets of Johannesburg “next week” and that we would all need to wear Wellington boots, was totally ludicrous.

Perhaps not in Johannesburg, but it is exactly what will happen in Boksburg, another scientist who wished to remain anonymous, told Sake24.
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So the task team recently set up to deal with this hasn't done much.
 
Welcome to Africa. Better not sit on that bond for too long.
 
Oh and there's going to be a lot of complaining and blaming that's going to happen. Lots of agents, 3rd forces and imperialists will be blamed. Ho hum.
 
Time to save on food, water and/or tickets to other place.
 
Its very good to have a hydro-geological model in order to understand and quantify the problem. The technology is there to pump the water. The technology is there to treat the water. The next phase is putting all this info together, design a solution and implement it.
 
I have an urge to make some comments involving the government, FIFA, ruined environments and priorities but... what's the use.
 
of course it was... but wait..... last month they said the evil reporters made this up and we were nowhere near a crises..

Now it was unavoidable?

Yeah right.
Eskom was also unavoidable...

Idjits
 
Some conclusions from CSIR, 2009 research

There is still a tremendous need for further technical research and innovation in the treatment of AMD, to enable cost-effective treatment of the range of AMD waters present in South Africa. Many treatment processes give rise to new large waste streams (such as brines or gypsum), and there needs to be ongoing effort to develop near zero waste processes. Near zero waste processes have a further benefit in that they allow for the recycling of a large portion of treatment chemicals. This recycling not only has the benefit to generate income through the recovery of saleable by-products, thereby reducing operational costs of treatment, but also allows for the reuse of chemicals such as lime and limestone. These chemicals are likely to be in short supply soon, as they are used increasingly in AMD and other forms of remediation. When the value of treated water and by-products exceeds the cost of treatment, it is feasible to create enterprises that will provide economic benefits while dealing with the environmental problems.

A national view on approaches to AMD would be supported by evidence-based policy and regulation, founded on improved links between research institutions, government agencies and key line departments of government. A strategic approach would be supported by the development of a centralised database of historical, current and potential future mine pollution from which to determine the nature and extent of impacts, and to identify priority areas and actions for the implementation of remedial measures. Prioritisation would be supported by a research programme to investigate the impacts of AMD on human health, wellbeing and ecosystems. Sensitive physical environments such as dolomitic aquifers may require specific management interventions. Integrated solutions would be supported through improved links between universities, research organisations and the international research community.
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Chicken Boo said:
I have an urge to make some comments involving the government, FIFA, ruined environments and priorities but... what's the use.
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Like me, you had better keep quiet because the most appropriate words are politically incorrect.
 
Ethiopië sindroom, wag tot alles in mekaar in moer dan reageer ons.
 
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Geriatrix said:
Oh and there's going to be a lot of complaining and blaming that's going to happen. Lots of agents, 3rd forces and imperialists will be blamed. Ho hum.
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In this case that's actually the truth. All the old mining crooks that created that mess decades ago have p***ed off overseas with all the money they plundered, leaving those areas to rot - quite literally.
 
Skitter said:
In this case that's actually the truth. All the old mining crooks that created that mess decades ago have p***ed off overseas with all the money they plundered, leaving those areas to rot - quite literally.
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Exactly. But what I want to know is why this is allowed to happen in the first place. No body takes a **** in their living room. Why? Because it's unsanitary and it would be a mess. There are fasilities made available for that, the toilet. So why is dumping mine waistage into our water fine. Even if it is accidental, there should have been measures put in place to prevent this.
 
Skitter said:
In this case that's actually the truth. All the old mining crooks that created that mess decades ago have p***ed off overseas with all the money they plundered, leaving those areas to rot - quite literally.
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Regardless of that, the problem is here right now and it's the current government's job to deal with it - which, of course, they aren't doing.
 
Ronjay said:
Exactly. But what I want to know is why this is allowed to happen in the first place. No body takes a **** in their living room. Why? Because it's unsanitary and it would be a mess. There are fasilities made available for that, the toilet. So why is dumping mine waistage into our water fine. Even if it is accidental, there should have been measures put in place to prevent this.
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Just to clear things up, the acid water isn't caused by mining by-products being dumped in the water, it's the mining process itself which contaminates and 'acidifies' the water somehow. Still, same applies.
 
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