Professor calls for coal mining moratorium in river catchments until viable AMD mitigation measures are in place

Until an extensive regional impact study has identified viable acid mine drainage (AMD) mitigation measures, a moratorium on new coal-mining operations in the Vaal, Usutu and Komati river catchment areas should be imposed to avoid the irreparable...

Minister says short-term AMD plan sufficient, but more needs to be done

There is sufficient dilution capacity to ameliorate the untreated acid mine drainage (AMD) and neutralised AMD decanting from basins in the Witwatersrand between now and the end of 2014, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said on...

Company expands and improves product range and business

South African distributor and maintenance service provider for Hyundai earthmoving equipment High Power Equipment (HPE) Africa reports that it will add a 120 t R1200-9 Hyundai crawler excavator to its existing range of 3.5 t to 80 t excavators...

Mining, other sectors far from being good corporate citizens – Bench Marks Foundation

The mining sectors and other industries in the South African market have a long way to go before they can be considered good corporate citizens.

AMD report stresses ‘urgent’ intervention to avert crisis

The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) on Thursday released the long-awaited 146-page acid mine drainage (AMD) report, which was compiled by a team of water and geology experts, and presented to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on AMD in December....

Rockwell to restart Ventersdorp diamond operation

Loss-making alluvial diamond junior Rockwell will recommission its impressive rebuilt Tirisano diamond plant near Ventersdorp in March, which will boost crucial volumes and help to smooth out the company’s currently variable cash flow cycle....

Black claim ownership in the early days of diamond digging

Racism, discrimination against and dominance over indigenous African tribes by white European settlers has been a prominent and unfortunate characteristic of South Africa’s colonial history.

Grootvlei gold mine will flood in five days – Dept

The water treatment plant at the Grootvlei mine near Springs will flood with acid mine water in five days, closing down operations, if action is not taken, the Water Affairs Department said on Tuesday. "The plant is only pumping 40 megalitres of...

A question of sovereignty over South Africa’s earliest diamond diggings

In 1870 ten thousand hopeful Boer, British, American, Australian, and European prospectors rushed to South Africa’s Vaal River intent on making their fortunes from diamonds.

South Africa’s early diamond rush

The year 1869 marked a significant turning point in the history of South Africa for it was in that year that the 83½ carat Star of South Africa diamond, the rock upon which the economic success of South Africa was built, was discovered close to...

Acid mine drainage an ‘impending crisis’ - Aveng

Increasing attention has been given to the "impending water crisis" caused by acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Witwatersrand gold fields area, with certain industry estimates stating that some 60-million litres of polluted AMD water could pour out...

SA govt, miners form PPP to tackle acid mine drainage

A public private partnership (PPP) between South Africa's Department of Water Affairs (DWA) and mining companies has been established to formulate a collaborative solution to the acid mine drainage (AMD) problem in the Witwatersrand gold fields...