Environment

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AngloGold Ashanti is an active participant in the development of a water management strategy in the Klerksdorp, Orkney, Stilfontein and Hartebeesfontein (KOSH) area, after it found itself, along with other mining companies, in the middle of uncharted legal territory.

This followed a dispute over responsibility for pumping of underground water after DRDGOLD placed its North West Operations (NWO), comprising Hartebeesfontein and Buffelsfontein mines, into provisional liquidation on 22 March 2005. Prior to this, dewatering of mines in the area was conducted by each mining company at their own mine shafts – DRDGOLD Limited, Harmony Gold Mining Company and AngloGold Ashanti – and Stilfontein Gold Mining Company, which, though closed, contracted the dewatering at its Margaret shaft to Hartebeesfontein.

Pumping is necessary to prevent the flow of underground water from mines at a higher location within the mining area to lower-lying mines and to keep the mines at the higher location dry for their own operating purposes. The designs of higher lying and shallower mines, like Hartebeesfontein, Buffelsfontein and Margaret, took account of the challenges posed by large volumes of water, unlike the deeper shafts owned by AngloGold Ashanti and Harmony, which do not encounter such volumes. Indeed Margaret shaft pumps a total of 37 megalitres a day (Ml/d), the equivalent of 740 swimming pools, while five other shafts in the area pump much lesser amounts each – 20.50 Ml/d in total. Once DRDGOLD abrogated its responsibilities to continue pumping natural underground water, the ensuing debate highlighted a crucial area, namely, on whose shoulders the pumping responsibility should lie when one mine closes down before another. The South African statutory law, in the opinion of AngloGold Ashanti, is clear in this regard, the mine in whose area the underground water occurs has the obligation to manage such water.

When DRDGOLD left responsibility for pumping with its liquidators, mines operated by AngloGold Ashanti and Harmony, lying as they do on the down dip of DRDGOLD’s North West Operations, were at risk of flooding with a number of possible impacts: cessation of operations, loss of a valuable resource, and resultant job losses affecting the social and economic fabric of the area.

AngloGold Ashanti’s immediate response, on 13 April 2005, was to launch an urgent interim interdict to request the court to order DRDGOLD to continue to dewater at its operations, in terms of legislation contained in the National Water Act, the National Environmental Act, the Mine Health and Safety Act and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which says that each mining company is responsible for its own environmental impacts and safety and that it may not pass pollution and safety problems on to another mining company – in other words “the polluter pays” principle. Mining companies, in any event, are compelled to make financial provision and fulfil certain environmental obligations before obtaining a closure certificate from the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME). AngloGold Ashanti also asked the court to direct the state to fulfill its statutory duties.

As a result of the launching of the urgent interdict, the Department of Water and Forestry Affairs (DWAF), in the meantime, issued a directive to mining companies to formulate a proposal on how to handle the KOSH water issue. AngloGold Ashanti submitted a document suggesting a way forward. The proposal suggests that over the next 18 years (covering the life of mines in the area), water should continue to be pumped to surface at Stilfontein’s Margaret shaft before being piped to the local water service provider, Midvaal Water Company or other water services provider where it is to be blended with Vaal River water, treated and used for domestic, industrial and mining purposes.

AngloGold Ashanti has also suggested that a water company (with the mining companies and government as members), similar to Midvaal, be formed to manage the current crisis now and into the future. This should create a revenue stream to pay for pumping costs over the next 18 years and will make more widespread use of the water being pumped at Margaret shaft, now being discharged to the surface environmental and water resources. On the question of sustainability, as raised by government, the proposal further advises continued pumping for a 10-year period following mine closure, until voids fill up. It is also envisaged that, since the quality of water may not be accurately established at this time, a pre-treatment plant be erected at Margaret shaft before water is transferred to Midvaal Water Company. With regard to water pollution, a monitoring measure is currently under investigation by DWAF, which is considering installing a Water Discharge Charge system, whereby companies will be charged for volumes and contaminants discharged into the natural watercourse.

At a two-day workshop held in October 2005, all mining companies and stakeholders agreed on the establishment of a water company, which will ultimately benefit the community, mining companies and government. Foreseeable challenges, besides raising the R60 million needed to set up the company, are how DWAF and the DME will legally appropriate Margaret shaft from Stilfontein in view of the fact that the company has no directors – they resigned en masse earlier in the year when they faced contempt of court proceedings for failing to comply with the DWAF directives; and the speed with which DWAF will be able to furnish a water licence permit for the new company.

While AngloGold Ashanti is confident that the new water company will get off the ground in the foreseeable future, it would like to see government intervention in certain areas before a crisis on the scale of the KOSH area presents itself. Chief of these is ensuring that closure strategies are in place long before all mining operations cease, and that these strategies adopt a holistic view of the needs of affected areas.