Legacy of asbestos mining lingers on
Although asbestos is no longer mined or used in South Africa, there is extensive environmental contamination and workers that demolish and refurbish asbestos structures are potentially at risk of being exposed to it.
This is according to the National Institute for Occupational Health’s Jim Phillips, who spoke at the tenth anniversary of the Asbestos Relief Trust at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, last week.
He explained that South Africa was the third-largest producer of asbestos in the 1970s and that, as countries banned the use of asbestos, exports shrank and mines closed. Although many of these mines were small, there had been extensive contamination.
“South Africa has a dual legacy of asbestos- related diseases and environmental contam-ination. At least three medical cases a month are diagnosed. “
Also, the contamination near the Kuruman mines, in the Northern Cape, is extensive,” he stated.
According to bulk samples collected from the mining sector, there is a 47.5% presence of asbestos. The largest presence of asbestos is in the construction sector, with 76.9%.
A study showing the activities associated with air filters and the proportion on which asbestos was identified revealed that 32.4% of asbestos was positive during the renovations of power stations.
“There is a large range of asbestos products that contain asbestos, but not all provinces are sending samples through for analysis. Power station refurbishing is well monitored and Eskom has a policy to be asbestos-free by 2033. Further, asbestos waste dumps appear to be well managed and monitoring shows that very few fibres are released,” Phillips concluded.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
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