The Mining Industry of South Africa

By Riley Boag

South Africa has mined its countryside for more than a century, and that long legacy of mining has taken a major toll on the country’s environment. Mining’s impact on environmental sustainability in South Africa has been huge and will continue to impact the country into the foreseeable future. Open-pit mining has created large deep pits which grow larger and deeper with time and erosion. They can be filled up with water during rainfall and can increase up to 20 metres at times with heavy rain (Mathews). An indirect effect of mining is the larger population increases strains on the water. Increased population produced waste, as well as mining, has led to an increase of pollution in rivers. On average, the pollution in rivers due to acid drainage by diamond mines has increased by 36% between 1956 and 2003 (Matthews).

Another indirect impact of mining on the environment due to a population increase is the demand on farming and agriculture. Increased commercial farming has led to steady degradation in soil quality and soil erosion in many places. Increased numbers of livestock have devastated entire areas of land by consuming all the vegetation. Open-pit mining means that large amounts of excess rock, sand and soil and processed Kimberlite have been accumulating in unwanted spaces with nowhere to move it. This is what is happening in some South African mines and it is a direct and unsustainable impact on the environment.

Increased mining has had a negative impact on the workers, as well. Horrible working conditions, along with terrible treatment from employers, led to one of the most devastating days in South African history, the day of the Marikana Massacre. On August 16, 2012, South African police opened fire on a large crowd of men who had walked out on strike from a platinum mine at Marikana, about 80 miles north of Johannesburg. They shot down 112 workers, killing 34. In any country, this would have been a traumatic moment. For South Africa, it was a special kind of nightmare, since it revived images of massacres by the state in the old apartheid era, with one brutal difference – this time it was predominantly black policemen, with black senior officers working for black politicians, who were doing the shooting (Davies).

This disaster nearly destroyed all labor relations between the companies and their employees. Due to the strike, mines remained empty as miners join protests, leaving thousands of dollars worth of materials and minerals unused and unmined.

The Bench Marks Foundation is a non-profit, faith-based organization owned by the churches of South Africa. They have done extensive research in the mining industry, collecting data on pollution from mines and its effects. Air and water pollution as a result of mining, acid mine drainage, toxic waste and abandoned mines continue to pose serious risks to South Africa's communities and its environment, says the Bench Marks Foundation. The single most destructive impact of mining is on the environment. Mine waste is still the largest source of pollution in South Africa and the country is one of the world's largest emitters of CO2 in terms of population size.

The impact old coal fields pose on their scarce water supplies, as a result of contamination due to heavy metals seeping into water resources, has reached epic proportions. One particular area of concern is mine dumps which are made up of crushed, sand-like by-product refuse material, known as tailings, produced during the mining process. Mine dumps are made up of a complex mixture of metals and dust particles. This means that dust exposure can be high for communities living nearby, particularly during windy conditions and when it’s dry and vegetation cover is low. An estimated 1.6 million people live in informal and formal settlements on or directly next to mine dumps in South Africa. People living in these settings tend to be historically marginalized and, in the main, poor (Nkosi).

In total, mining has not only caused environmental issues, but labor and commercial problems as well. What was once the backbone of a country has now become its kryptonite. With a plethora of workers on strike and organizations investigating pollution around mining sites, much of the mining industry in South Africa is on its last legs. With horrible working conditions exposed and the consequences for workers and the environment known, coal mining is on its way out. While diamond mining will continue, coal mining will be replaced by newer, cleaner energy sources that create safer jobs. While changes are being made, the aftereffects of so much mining will linger for years to come.

Works Cited

BizCommunity. “Mining Is Destroying SA's Environment - Bench Marks Foundation.”

Bizcommunity.com - Daily Marketing & Media News, BizCommunity, 6 Aug. 2012, www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/558/76519.html.

“The Consequences of the Marikana Massacre One Year Later.” Mineral Processing & Metallurgy, 18 Mar. 2017, www.911metallurgist.com/blog/the-consequences-of-the-marikana-massacre-one-year-later

Davies, Nick. “Marikana Massacre: the Untold Story of the Strike Leader Who Died for Workers' Rights | Nick Davies.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 May 2015, www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/marikana-massacre-untold-story-strike-leader-died-workers-rights.

Matthews, Haley. “Environmental Impacts.” Diamond Mining in South Africa,

hayleymatthews-diamondmining-southafrica.weebly.com/environmental-impacts.html.

Nkosi, Vusumuzi. “How Mine Dumps in South Africa Affect the Health of Communities Living Nearby.” The Conversation, 29 Jan. 2020, theconversation.com/how-mine-dumps-in-south-africa-affect-the-health-of-communities-living-nearby-77113.