At the pipeline draft assessment meeting that was held on Tuesday evening (May 5), residents raised many questions on how it would affect them.
Representatives from Digby Wells Environmental, answered many of these questions to the residents’ satisfaction.
The acid mine drainage (AMD) water will be pumped from Grootvlei mine shaft number three, which will then be treated, and the sludge pumped to a disposal facility.
Once the heavy metals have been removed and the water’s pH neutralised, the treated water will be pumped into the Blesbokspruit.
Mellerson Pillay, from Digby Wells, said the Grootvlei site is suitable for the project in many aspects.
It was decided not to select the Largo site as it has been developed agriculturally and has natural veld.
Residents who attended the meeting were satisfied with this decision, but still raised concerns regarding the impact of the project on the community.
The project aims to produce a sludge disposal facility and pipeline for the treatment of AMD in the area.
This came as an instruction from the minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, to manage AMD generated from the Eastern Basin of Witwatersrand Gold Fields.
Digby Wells Environmental explained that the water that will be pumped into the Blesbokspruit will be treated.
In the company’s background information document for the project, it states that after more than 120 years of deep level gold mining in the Witwatersrand, mining and dewatering has stopped due to the exhaustion of gold resources.
The halting of dewatering has resulted in progressive flooding of the mine voids since 1997.
AMD occurs when ore and waste material, containing sulphides are exposed to water and oxygen and thereby increasing the acidity of the water.
Measures for AMD treatment is the construction of High Density Sludge (HDS) treatment plant where acid water is treated with lime and neutralised water discharged, with the residual sludge pumped to a storage facility.
The focus of the process is limited to the construction of a sludge disposal facility and associated underground pipelines.
A total extent of 30 hectares will be required to dispose of the 1.75-million m³ of sludge over a maximum of eight years.
The total height of the proposed sludge disposal facility is not expected to exceed 14m.
