[miningmx.com] — THE mining industry is developing a comprehensive
plan to decontaminate around 250 megalitres of acid mine water in Mpumalanga for
use by platinum mines, both in that province and in Limpopo.
A partnership between the biggest coal producers, emerging platinum mines in the
two provinces and the Department of Water Affairs is in the final draft phase and will
be published in the first week of May.
The first announcement in this regard was made by Anglo American chair Sir John
Parker on Thursday afternoon in London, at the group’s annual general meeting.
According to Parker the project will culminate in the delivery of safe drinking water to
around two million people living in the environs of the platinum mines on the eastern
limb of the Bushveld.
“If accepted, it will stave off an ecological acid-mine-water disaster in Mpumalanga
and simultaneously solve the problem of water shortages for the mining industry and
communities around Polokwane, Mokopane and Burgersfort,’ says Bertus Bierman,
managing engineer tasked with spatial development for Anglo American Platinum in
Polokwane.
The acid mine water project is an alternative to the Olifants River water resource
development plan involving 21 platinum mines and the Department of Water Affairs.
Since 2004, efforts have been made to implement this plan for delivering water to the
platinum mines from the Olifants River. The plan was to supplement it with acid mine
water from eMalahleni, treated sewage from Ekhurhuleni and even with acid mine
water from the Grootvlei mine.
But the volumes were insufficient to for it to be cost-effective, and the plan was
finally abandoned last September.
The current plan is to consolidate capital expenditure by the six largest coal producers
in the eMalahleni environment in order to clean up and purify acid mine water in the
region.
A decision is still needed as to the level of purification.
The coal-mining groups will bear the cost of pipelines to carry the purified water to
the Olifants River and convey it from there to the platinum projects in the north-east.
The platinum mines will pay for operating and maintaining the projects.
However, this strategy has to be designed and executed in such a way that the water
remains available after the closure of the respective coal mines and has to be added
to the rehabilitation requirements on the coal mines’ closure.
Various conceptual studies and risk evaluations will be processed next month.
If the final conceptual studies of the respective mines, the Department of Water
Affairs and the Department of Mineral Resources are accepted, feasibility studies will
be initiated.
On Thursday Parker also announced that Anglo would this year double the purification
capacity of the eMalahleni water plant, which is converting acid mine water from
Anglo Coal and BHP Billiton mines into clean potable water.
The plant, which is currently purifying 23 megalitres of water a day through the
process of reverse osmosis, will be enlarged to have a purification capacity of 50
megalitres to, among other things, make the purification process available to other
smaller coal producers in the region.
– Sake24
