Modern Mining July 2024

treatment plants in their respective regions.” Liefferink adds that, aside from providing technical advice to the Mogale City Local Municipality, Sibanye-Stillwater also engaged a specialised wastewater contractor to assess the costs associated with refurbishing the primary and secondary process steps of the Percy Stewart WWTWs. Poor management of the WWTW negatively impacts the rivers within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. “The undertaking is expected to be cost-effective and enhance the facility’s overall compliance. With the need for sustainable solutions, ongoing efforts are directed towards quantifying the cost for the comprehensive refurbishment of the entire facility. This initiative, currently underway, aims to significantly improve the plant’s long-term performance. Sibanye-Stillwater, however, cautioned that the success of both engineering approaches (the refurbishment and replacement of failing units) hinges on the dedication of skilled plant operators and a robust maintenance system and sustained compliance in the future.” According to Liefferink, following a visit in July/August 2023 by the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights’, Dr Marcos Orellana, to Sibanye-Stillwater and Gold Fields’ South Deep operations, and the West Rand AMD Treatment Plant, he noted that the (Western Basin) AMD Treatment facility “embodied collaboration between the government and a mining corporation” and that the polluted water from tailings were reused in the mining operations, in a closed loop system. Of the initiative, Dr Orellena said it was an example of a good practice where rehabilitation is being undertaken while mining operations were ongoing and

Percy Stewart outflow which travels down the ravine into the Blougat Spruit.

not postponed until mining operations concluded. Sibanye Stillwater also partnered with the Welkom’s Matjhabeng Local Municipality for the refurbishment and interim operations of the Theronia Wastewater Pump Station. The refurbished plant was recently handed back to the municipality. In January 2023, Harmony Gold refurbished the Witpan WWTWs in Matjhabeng at a cost of R10.7m and refurbished the Stilfontein WWTWs in Matlosana and Oberholzer in Merafong, in August 2023, at a cost of R9.2m and R15.6m respectively. “South Africa’s water situation requires urgent intervention. It would be most beneficial if more businesses follow the examples of companies in the mining sector to collaborate with government and local municipalities and lend a helping

Polluted canal feeding a fish farm.

hand to alleviate the water challenges the country faces,” concludes Liefferink. 

JULY 2024 | www.modernminingmagazine.co.za  MODERN MINING  25