gold mining in south africa air pollution

Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining—With Special …

Gold mining has serious negative environmental impacts, especially due to pollution emanating from tailings storage facilities (TSFs, tailings dams, slimes dams). …

SA's dirty air: 'Perplexed' UN Special Rapporteur calls for

His research was conducted from 31 July to 11 August this year. He said that air pollution in the country could be attributed mainly to the 90% coal-generated electricity plants and mining. "A study has estimated that 2 239 deaths and 9 500 cases of bronchitis per year are attributed to air pollution in South Africa," Orellana said.

Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining—With Special Reference to South Africa

Mining is a huge producer of waste, for example contributing 87.7% of the 533.6 million tons of waste produced in South Africa in 1998 . Gold mining is a major contributor to this and is considered to be the largest single …

Climate Change, Air Pollution and Health in South Africa

Climate change and air pollution pose significant short-term and long-term health risks to South Africans due to the carbon intensity of the national economy, the severe air pollution around coal mining and coal-fired power stations in many widespread populated areas and the particular vulnerability of many subgroups in a country …

South African Mine Effluents: Heavy Metal Pollution and …

Diverse opinions on the issues of South African mines' emissions, contamination and remediation have been summarized: environmental effects of heavy metal pollution …

Mine Waste Leaves Toxic Legacies in South Africa

Waste from gold mines constitutes the largest single source of waste and pollution in South Africa and there is wide acceptance that water pollution from mining operations is responsible for the most costly …

Gold mining's toxic legacy: Pollutant transport and

ABSTRACT. Waste from gold mines is considered to constitute the largest single source of waste pollution in South Africa and contributes significantly to acid mine drainage, …

Element Africa: Lead poisoning, polluted rivers, and …

Illegal mining polluting water for farmers in Ghana's gold-producing regions. Growing numbers of farmers living along Ghana's Debre River in the Ashanti region are desperate for water.

Aquatic Ecological Risk of Heavy-Metal Pollution Associated …

Africa accounts for nearly 30% of the discovered world's mineral reserves, with half of the world's platinum group metals deposits, 36% of gold, and 20% of cobalt being in Southern Africa (SA). The intensification of heavy-metal production in the SA region has exacerbated negative human and environmental health impacts. In recent …

Reducing water use and pollution in South …

Mining in South Africa is looking to increasingly sophisticated methods to address the twin issues of reducing water use and stopping pollution. ... including mineral processing (such as gold separation); as a coolant in …

Aquatic Ecological Risk of Heavy-Metal Pollution …

Evidence of the impacts of metal mining and the effectiveness of mining

Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine can impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mining can yield a range of benefits to societies, but it may also cause …

Review: Artisanal Gold Mining in Africa—Environmental Pollution …

About nine million Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) workers in Africa and people living near ASGM activities are highly exposed to geogenic and anthropogenic potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Despite the hazards and risks posed by ASGM being well characterized, coordinated multidisciplinary environmental …

Mine Waste Leaves Toxic Legacies in South Africa

Gold mining waste was estimated to account for 221 million tonnes or 47 % of all mineral waste produced in South Africa, making it the largest, single source of waste and pollution." "The South African government must introduce regulatory reforms that will ensure effective transparency and monitoring of tailings facilities," says Hassen ...

Review: Artisanal Gold Mining in Africa—Environmental Pollution …

Mining and biodiversity: key issues and research needs in …

2. The many ways mining activities impact biodiversity. Mining affects biodiversity at multiple spatial scales (site, landscape, regional and global) through direct (i.e. mineral extraction) and indirect processes (via industries supporting mining operations, and external stakeholders who gain access to biodiversity-rich areas as the result of …

Fresh water sources pollution: A human related …

Freshwater ecosystems in South Africa are relatively scarce, and a variety of human activities, such as mining, urban development, and agriculture, are an ongoing threat to water quality and ...

Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining With Special …

Mining 2023, 3 206 pollution [8]. In South Africa these two are by far the largest sources of soil and water pollution, particularly PTE pollution, in the country.

South Africa has failed to protect locals from gold mine …

South Africa has failed to address the adverse environmental and health effects of more than 130 years of gold mining in and around Johannesburg, a new report from Harvard Law School shows.

Big increase in mine water pollution – The Mail & Guardian

New statistics released in Parliament show that 118 mines around South Africa are polluting rivers, inadequately testing for contamination or otherwise dirtying South Africa's waterways.

(PDF) Dust Deposition Impacts at a Liquidated Gold Mine …

waste produced in South Africa, making it the largest single source of waste and pollution [5]. There are approximately 270 tailings st orage facilities in the Witwatersrand Basi n, covering 400 km

Review of Environmental and Health Impacts of Mining in …

Introduction. Mineral wealth is an important asset that can be used to stimulate or enhance economic growth and spur infrastructure development, including the building of schools, hospitals and road networks.1 Mining has played a substantial role in the development of Ghana, which is second only to South Africa in terms of gold …

AFRICA: the impact of mining on the environment | Afrik 21

Among the most prominent mining pollution cases in Africa is the Glencore case and the production of acid rain in the Mufulira region of north-western Zambia. 48 million loan to the Mopani Copper Mine (MCM) consortium, Zambia's largest mining company, whose majority shareholder is the Swiss company Glencore.

As South Africa Clings to Coal, A Struggle for the Right to …

It's the first court case in South Africa to challenge air pollution on the basis of this constitutional right, but the litigation could have implications internationally as well. ... Eskom, used coal to provide low-cost electricity to gold and diamond mining operations. During the apartheid era, which lasted from 1948 to 1994, the government ...

Gold mining's environmental footprints, drivers, and future …

Small-scale gold mining activities directly cause three main environmental footprints: land degradation, water pollution and diversion, and deforestation. …

The Struggle for Air: Mining, Dust, and Death on the South …

The discovery of vast gold deposits in what became the city of Johannesburg in South Africa in 1886 precipitated an environmental transformation that was both invisible and all-encompassing, by transforming the air.

Health impacts of industrial mining on surrounding …

Introduction. Africa endows about a third of global reserves of natural resource of metals and minerals [].The continent is currently hosting about 700 active industrial mines and many more are planned, partly in response to the global transition toward a low-carbon future [1, 2].Large-scale extraction projects are important drivers for …

All that glitters... Acid mine drainage: The toxic legacy of gold

"They now have to carry the cost of 120 years of irresponsible mining; but the gold-mining industry is in decline and [these new mining companies] do not feel they can pay." Indeed, said Rand Uranium CEO John Munro in testimony before the National Assembly in June: "Burdening new companies with the sins of the past is simply …

Air pollution from coal power stations causes disease and …

In essence, the report estimates that the following impacts are attributable to air pollution from the burning of coal in South Africa: 2 239 deaths per year: 157 from lung cancer; 1 110 from ischaemic heart disease; 73 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;719 from strokes; and 180 from lower respiratory infection