TREATING the polluted water that emanates from mines in the Witwatersrand Basin, the source of about a third of all the world’s gold, will cost as much as R12bn and the companies will pay the bulk of the expense through an environmental levy, Water Affairs and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said on Wednesday.While the government intends to get 67% of the cost of setting up treatment plants from the mines, it will cover the amount until the policy is implemented, Mokonyane said in Germiston, east of Johannesburg.After intensively mining in the region for 120 years, Johannesburg, also Africa’s richest city, is littered with enormous underground mined-out caverns that have become flooded. Water combines with toxic metals such as uranium, a by-product of gold mining, and seeps out into rivers, a process called acid mine drainage.The country last year had the worst drought since records started in 1904, and the fully treated water will defer the need to extend the Lesotho Highland...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.