Accountability and perpetuity for future generations

摘要

In the past few months the reality of the negative environmental impact caused by mining activities has come to the fore, media reports pointed out that acidic water from old and abandoned underground mines is threatening one of the country's most valued heritage sites, The Cradle of Humankind. The 47 000 ha site has been declared a World Heritage area and is host to one of the world's richest hominid fossil deposits. In February Mining Mirror carried a report that detailed how one of the country's oldest mines, East Rand Proprietary Mine (ERPM) was struggling to stay afloat because of the financial costs associated with pumping out water from the underground operations. At the time the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) was subsidising the gold mining operation at a rate of R1-million a month to help the mine to meet its water pumping obligations. In terms of this subsidy arrangement the mine carried the responsibility of paying the R600 000 balance of the pumping costs bringing the total figure to R1,6-million per month. ERPM was at that particular stage pumping between 22 and 26-million litres of water a month.