Diverse opinions on the issues of South African mines' emissions, contamination and remediation have been summarized: environmental effects of heavy metal pollution …
Africa accounts for nearly 30% of the discovered world's mineral reserves, with half of the world's platinum group metals deposits, 36% of gold, and 20% of cobalt being in Southern Africa (SA). The intensification of heavy-metal production in the SA region has exacerbated negative human and environmental health impacts. In recent …
M. A. Ondayo et al. 1 3 in ASGM depending on the location and value of gold deposits (Table 1). Generally, unsafe working conditions, crude technology, unskilled labour, and poor waste man-
South Africa embarks on extensive mining activities, ... contamination and remediation have been summarized: environmental effects of heavy metal pollution from gold mines and bacterial remediation strategies [5]; contaminants and nutrients in sediments [16]; remedial processes of ... into the atmosphere. The air particulate matters, in the ...
Gold mining began in Krugersdorp in 1887, over 100 years before South Africa's National Environmental Management Act compelled mining companies to manage the waste they produced. The goal of ...
For 140 years, gold mines in Johannesburg, South Africa have been leaking wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. The acid mine drainage from Johannesburg's estimated 278 abandoned mines and ...
ABSTRACT. Waste from gold mines is considered to constitute the largest single source of waste pollution in South Africa and contributes significantly to acid mine drainage, …
The sources of air pollution in South Africa are diverse and complex. Managing them therefore requires a multi-sectoral approach. ... mining, transport and energy, fall under other parts of the ...
Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine can impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mining can yield a range of benefits to societies, but it may also cause …
Africa accounts for nearly 30% of the discovered world's mineral reserves, with half of the world's platinum group metals deposits, 36% of gold, and 20% of cobalt being in Southern Africa (SA). The …
Waste from gold mines constitutes the largest single source of waste and pollution in South Africa and there is wide acceptance that water pollution from mining operations is responsible for the most costly …
About nine million Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) workers in Africa and people living near ASGM activities are highly exposed to geogenic and anthropogenic potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Despite the hazards and risks posed by ASGM being well characterized, coordinated multidisciplinary environmental …
Mining 2023, 3 206 pollution [8]. In South Africa these two are by far the largest sources of soil and water pollution, particularly PTE pollution, in the country.
A boom in small-scale gold mining in Bolivia has raised concerns about pollution from mercury used in the mining process. Researchers are citing the health impacts on downstream villages, but the government has yet to act to stem the widespread use of the highly toxic chemical.
Gold mining has serious negative environmental impacts, especially due to pollution emanating from tailings storage facilities (TSFs, tailings dams, slimes dams). …
The discovery of vast gold deposits in what became the city of Johannesburg in South Africa in 1886 precipitated an environmental transformation that was both invisible and all-encompassing, by transforming the air.
As gold makes its way across the globe, so does mercury, with small-scale unregulated mining being the single largest source of mercury pollution. A recent study revealed that 71.7% of miners at artisanal gold mining sites in Cameroon showed mercury levels at concentrations above the limit recommended by the World Health Organization …
Introduction. Africa endows about a third of global reserves of natural resource of metals and minerals [].The continent is currently hosting about 700 active industrial mines and many more are planned, partly in response to the global transition toward a low-carbon future [1, 2].Large-scale extraction projects are important drivers for …
Climate change and air pollution pose significant short-term and long-term health risks to South Africans due to the carbon intensity of the national economy, the severe air pollution around coal mining and coal-fired power stations in many widespread populated areas and the particular vulnerability of many subgroups in a country …
2. The many ways mining activities impact biodiversity. Mining affects biodiversity at multiple spatial scales (site, landscape, regional and global) through direct (i.e. mineral extraction) and indirect processes (via industries supporting mining operations, and external stakeholders who gain access to biodiversity-rich areas as the result of …
The ongoing mining activities combined with the legacy of more than 120 years of gold mining operations have caused water, air and soil contamination in the Witwatersrand region (encompassing as it does the major South African city of Johannesburg, the economic and financial heartland of South Africa).
Introduction. Mineral wealth is an important asset that can be used to stimulate or enhance economic growth and spur infrastructure development, including the building of schools, hospitals and road networks.1 Mining has played a substantial role in the development of Ghana, which is second only to South Africa in terms of gold …
About nine million Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) workers in Africa and people living near ASGM activities are highly exposed to geogenic and …
The solution strips away the gold and is collected in a pond, then run through an electro-chemical process to extract the gold. This method of producing gold is cost effective but enormously wasteful: 99.99 percent of the heap becomes waste. Gold mining areas are frequently studded with these immense, toxic piles.
Illegal mining polluting water for farmers in Ghana's gold-producing regions. Growing numbers of farmers living along Ghana's Debre River in the Ashanti region are desperate for water.
Mercury (Hg) pollution remains an environmental global concern due to its non-degradable and toxic nature. Natural and anthropogenic sources of Hg adversely affect the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and biological processes. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), unregulated artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) contributes up to …
waste produced in South Africa, making it the largest single source of waste and pollution [5]. There are approximately 270 tailings st orage facilities in the Witwatersrand Basi n, covering 400 km
South Africa embarks on extensive mining activities, which consequently produce enormous quantities of toxic HMs1 that pollute the surroundings; subjecting the ecosystem to dangers of infections ...
Freshwater ecosystems in South Africa are relatively scarce, and a variety of human activities, such as mining, urban development, and agriculture, are an ongoing threat to water quality and ...
Gold-mining waste has been estimated as accounting for 221 million tons or 47% of all mineral waste produced in South Africa, making it the largest single source of waste and pollution . There are approximately 270 tailings storage facilities in the Witwatersrand Basin, covering 400 km 2 in surface area, which store this waste [ 6 ].
Among the most prominent mining pollution cases in Africa is the Glencore case and the production of acid rain in the Mufulira region of north-western Zambia. 48 million loan to the Mopani Copper Mine (MCM) consortium, Zambia's largest mining company, whose majority shareholder is the Swiss company Glencore.
His research was conducted from 31 July to 11 August this year. He said that air pollution in the country could be attributed mainly to the 90% coal-generated electricity plants and mining. "A study has estimated that 2 239 deaths and 9 500 cases of bronchitis per year are attributed to air pollution in South Africa," Orellana said.
South Africa has failed to address the adverse environmental and health effects of more than 130 years of gold mining in and around Johannesburg, a new report from Harvard Law School shows.
In gold mine tailings, concentration ranging between 8.9 and 65.7 mg/kg have been reported in South Africa by Mitileni et al. while a higher concentration of …
"They now have to carry the cost of 120 years of irresponsible mining; but the gold-mining industry is in decline and [these new mining companies] do not feel they can pay." Indeed, said Rand Uranium CEO John Munro in testimony before the National Assembly in June: "Burdening new companies with the sins of the past is simply …