Impacts of gold mine waste on the water quality in the West Rand region & the associated risk to Anglogold Ashanti

[摘要] This study was conducted at the West Rand Region, part of South African-basedAngloGold operations. The study assesses the impacts of gold mining on the waterquality and the change in landuse resulting from the mining activities on the West RandRegion. This was achieved by collecting historical data relating to the tailings dams andboth surface and groundwater qualities between 1998 and 2003. The landuse informationwas gathered from the topographic map of Carltonville and remotely sensed data in theform of aerial photographs, landsat data and ASTER images. The data was analysed in aGIS ILWIS.The sizes of the tailings dams have not changed significantly during the study period.The size of the plantation also shows a decreasing trend due to pollution from the tailingsdams. The area surrounding the Anglo Gold mining operations is sparsely-vegetated dueto both poor soils and the impacts of mining activities.The surface water quality is poor and this water has negative impacts on the environmentfollowing accidental discharges and has potential negative impacts from seepage throughthe unlined dams. The quality of the groundwater is generally good with the exceptionsof BH 18, MBH 8, MBH 5 and MBH 3 whose pollution arises from North mine tailingsdams and North boundary dam. MBH 5 shows an improvement in water quality overtime. The potential generation of AMD from the tailings dams is inhibited by the neutralpH of the tailings.In order to improve the environment in the West Rand Region and to prevent furtherpollution, planting of indigenous trees to make up for shrinking plantation and lining ofthe dams be undertaken. Stricter maintenance and monitoring of both the sewage plantsand the dams be implemented to avoid accidental discharges of poor quality water intothe environment. A study to accurately quantify the groundwater pollution arising fromboth the tailings dams and other surface water bodies should be undertaken.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand