BRIEFING OF THE PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON MINERAL RESOURCES: PROGRESS IN DEALING WITH DERELICT AND OWNERLESS MINES

12 November 2014Committee Room 1 , UG Floor, 90 Plein

Parliament

1

South Africa has a long history of formalised mining in excess of a century The Mines and Works act of 1956 introduced a requirement to install fencing

around a mining area upon closure of a mine Sustainable Development became most prominent issue during Mining &

Environment summit (Rio De Janeiro, 1991) Mine Rehabilitation Enforcement became an integral part under Mine

Rehabilitation Minerals Act 50 of 1991. The act empowered the Regional Director to approve Environmental Management Plans and to issue closure certificate to release mining companies from the rehabilitation liability, albeit without consultation with other Government regulators

BACKGROUND

2

The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002 effectively introduced a sustainable approach to the development of mineral and petroleum resources in South Africa, in line with the Supreme Law of the nation, the Constitution. In particular, the MPRDA sought to effectively address all mining environmental issues, with one of its key objectives being give effect to the environmental right, as contained in section 24 of the Constitution

According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) section 24, “everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being”. It also states that “everyone has the right to have the environment protected, through reasonable and other legislative measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation, promote conservation and secure ecologicallysustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development”.

BACKGROUND

3

The MPRDA introduced the sustainable development approach to mining, seeking the balance among the three spheres, viz.:

Social license to operate

Economic growth

Stringent environmental requirements

Detailed EMP and EIA

Public participation

Determination of the quantum of the financial provision

Mine closure plan

Monitoring of EMP performance

Other recent and relevant pieces of legislations include the National Environmental Act of 1998 as amended and National Water Act of 1998.

BACKGROUND

4

The democratic government of South Africa legally embargoed the mining of asbestos in 1999 due to its extreme health hazard.

Early 2000, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) initiated a research programme on derelict and ownerless mines in order to:

Establish a baseline understanding of the scope of the problem of derelict and ownerless mines

Pilot the programme of implementation, largely informed by risk of asbestos

Secure annual allocation of funds for a programme of rehabilitating derelict and ownerless mines under the Mineral Regulation Branch. This function was subsequently transferred to Mineral Policy and Promotion in 2009

Direct development of a database for D&O, estimated at 6000 at the time

Guide the initiation of a Government Task Team (DMR, DST, DWEA) Estimate the extent of the liability (Est. to be R30 Billion at the time)

BACKGROUND

5

The DMR developed the National strategy for management and rehabilitation

of derelict & ownerless (D&O) mines in South Africa in 2009 to address the

impact of environmental legacy of mining in an orderly manner.

The afore-mentioned strategy includes:

Development of a national database for D&O mines and mine sites

Ranking mechanism in terms of potential impact on public health and

safety and the environment

Development of tools to measure minimum acceptable remedial measure

(standard protocol to rehabilitate D&O mine sites)

Implementation programme to address the impacts of D&O

BACKGROUND

6

The DMR secured support of the Council for Geosciences (CGS) in 2005,

to compile a list of all D&O mine sites within South Africa.

CGS collected information from CSIR and combined with its “South

African Mineral Deposit Database” (SAMIDABA) and produced a list

totalling 8000 D&O mine sites.

Further refinement of the database reduced the D&O mine sites to a total

of 6095.

Subsequently, the DMR secured additional support of the CGS in 2012 to

verify, update and rank the status of D&O sites in the database.

To date 4378 mining sites have been verified and 1717 mining sites are

to be verified.

D & O DATABE

7

8

D & O DATABE

High priority

Moderatepriority

Low priority

No rehabilitation appearsnecessary

Operational/Owned

Visitedbut no

access

Limpopo 44 29 73 338 74 257

Mpumalanga 41 34 34 299 194 186

Gauteng 40 18 15 138 41 16

Kwazulu-Natal 16 18 26 205 38 62

Northern-Cape 32 11 16 73 7 1

North-West 8 7 46 186 121 99

Eastern-Cape 0 0 12 223 37 19

Free-State 0 0 3 63 16 32

Western-Cape 1 1 1 203 8 23

Total 182 118 226 1728 536 695

9

D & O DATABE

Step Assessment Very

LowLow Moderate High Very

HighComments/ justification

N/A

1 Proximity to human settlements

2 immediate physical threat to people entering the site

3 Host rock/ore poses a threat to people entering the site

4 Contaminated soils pose a threat to people entering the site

5 Residue deposits pose a threat to people entering the site and/or the environment

6 Site results in water contamination

7 Site adversely affects local drainage (diversions, erosion)

8 Windblown dust from the mine affects local communities

9 Combustion gases from the mine affect local communities (coal)

10 The mine has a negative impact on a sensitive or protected ecosystem

11 The mine has a negative impact on current or future land-use

12 Indiscriminate rehabilitation or neglect of the mine could destroy a potential heritage site

10

RANKING MATRIX

11

PROGRESS ON RANKING BY PROVINCES

To date 18 Asbestos mining sites have been rehabilitated by the state, 11

of which are located in Northern Cape and 7 in Limpopo

Twelve Asbestos sites were rehabilitated through 2010 to 2016 (two

consecutive three years) contract agreement with Mintek under MPP

Branch.

Six Asbestos sites were rehabilitated through contract agreement

with REDCO under MR Branch

Additionally, At least 145 dangerous mine sites have been closed during

this time

12

PROGRESS OF IMPLEMENTATION

Vergenoeg Asbestos Site (After)

Priska Asbestos Site (After)

Vergenoeg Asbestos Site (Before)

Priska Asbestos Site (Before)

Old Asbestos Dump After leveling and placement of soil cover

13

PROGRESS OF IMPLEMENTATION

To date 145 dangerous mining holings have been closed in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo

South-West Shaft (Before)

Munseiville Shaft (Before) Munseiville Shaft (After)

South-West Shaft (After)

14

PROGRESS OF IMPLEMENTATION

Some rehabilitation sites require significant financial resources that

exceed annual financial allocation to the department. For instance, the

Osizweni Pit is estimated at R95 million requirements, including relocation

of infrastructure and housing nearby Multi-year project implementation versus annual reporting requirements,

as contained in the Annual Performance Plan (APP) Cost escalation for project implementation (variations at the initial cost

phase versus the actual expenditure for rehabilitation of D&O) Security challenges in areas where Illegal mining activities are taking place Re-opening of some of the previously closed holings, which poses a

challenge for repeat closure exercise and impacts negatively on the

allocated budget

15

CHALLENGES

16

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The additional financial allocation starting from the financial year has enabled ramping up annual target of implementation to 50 sites annually

The database for derelict and ownerless mines will be concluded within the next 2 financial years

Asbestos remains the highest priority for rehabilitation, followed by the sites proximal to communities, with the greatest risk to the health, safety and environment proximal to communities

Explore other technologies and alternate material applications for closure, which is not readily destructible

Augmenting resources within the department to enhance management of derelict resources is imminent

Exploring other meaningful mechanisms to optimise the management of derelict and ownerless mines and mine-sites in order to mitigate both the risks inherent, whilst at the same time ensuring that responsible parties are brought to the book

Thank You

17