Drought adds pressure to S African mines and host communities
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - While the current drought plaguing many parts of Southern Africa is taking its toll on mining operations, it will also start to impact on host communities requiring a steady supply of potable water.
Project management and engineering consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV mining director Berte Simons told Mining Weekly Online that the drought could become a bigger problem in drought-stricken areas where underground water reservoirs, mining operations and communities were always interacting. She believed this would inevitably lead to mines and their host communities competing for water.
Simons added that there were several areas in South Africa where reservoirs, mining operations and surrounding communities coexisted in water-tight areas and that Royal HaskoningDHV looked at possible sustainable solutions to assist in that process.
She explained that, while there was a lot of talk about the impact of mines’ intensive water use, the company aimed to explore a mine’s water cycle, as well as the community’s water requirements and how they link with each. Therefore, RoyalHaskoningDHV wanted to provide a positive solution for both communities and the mining industry as a whole.
For example, mines could look at sustainability of the cycle and treat water commonly found in underground aquifers to a potable standard for use by surrounding communities.
These aquifers were very deep and communities were not able to access them without a mine’s assistance – usually through corporate social investment projects.
However, Simons noted that groundwater pollution from mining operations was a potential threat to aquifers.
“Mines use a lot of water for their operations and some of that water is extracted from ground water. Therefore, if the water cycle that is used for production in the mine – for equipment or cleaning – mixes with groundwater, the quality will be affected.”
She noted, however, that mines’ water use could be controlled and reiterated that the local mining industry was highly regulated, clear and transparent when it came to water safety.
MINING INDABA
Simons will be speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba, which was taking place from February 8 to 11, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
She would be discussing how the mining industry could use water – the largest shared resource in the world – in a more sustainable way.
Simons told Mining Weekly Online that the reason she chose to speak about water at the Mining Indaba was because Royal HaskoningDHV, a Netherlands-based company, was part of the Dutch government’s envoy for natural resources, currently promoting water stewardship in South Africa.
She added that Royal HaskoningDHV would be at the indaba as the company considers itself one of the top players in the consultancy industry. “We want to engage with clients, partners and governments to lead the discussion and to make a positive impact on the industry in times of the worst commodity cycle in the last 40 years,” she concluded.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation