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7 days to die coal deposits12/27/2023 ![]() Management of AMD is a complex, technical, and expensive process, but one that is part of proper operational management of a mine, both during and after its operation. Acid mine drainage (AMD), if left untreated, can have devastating impacts: it can render water unusable, soils unproductive, and even corrode municipal infrastructure for water delivery. This reaction poses significant risks to water and agricultural land in many parts of South Africa, including in Mpumalanga. When these ores come into contact with water and air, sulfuric acid is created, which can lead to further leaching of heavy metals from ores. Coal across South Africa is found predominantly in ores with sulfur-bearing minerals. The risks from unrehabilitated mines extend far beyond the people who access the sites – they risk polluting the water of millions of South Africans. An independent analysis by an investigative journalist of South African English-language media coverage between 20 found reports of 312 deaths, at least 150 because of collapsing tunnels, gas poisoning, suffocation, and explosives accidents. ![]() Because artisanal miners are working illegally, most of their deaths are never recorded by law enforcement and police often do not investigate. Artisanal miners may eke out a living, but at high risk: they have little protective equipment and enjoy no labour or health and safety protections while working in dangerous underground mine shafts.Īrtisanal miners Human Rights Watch interviewed said there are more deaths than is publicly acknowledged in official records or published in the local media. ![]() Residual coal deposits in Mpumalanga are also accessed by artisanal miners, known as zama zamas. In addition to accident risks, abandoned and unsecured mines leave behind a toxic legacy of polluted land and highly-acidic water that can harm local communities in a myriad of ways. There are still children that will go there.” Xolani and Sifiso's drownings underscore both the risks of accidents from unfettered access to unrehabilitated mines and the South African government’s failure to address these risks.Īcross South Africa, according to government records, there are no fewer than 400 abandoned coal mines like the one in Wesselton, Ermelo where the boys drowned. The worst part is that my nephew the last one. Thomas Mthembu, Xolani’s uncle, described to Human Rights Watch the ongoing risks such abandoned mines pose to residents of the community: “What we ask ourselves is whether this is how things should be… that mine wasn’t rehabilitated and there isn’t even a warning sign, so the children saw a swimming pool. Five years later, when Human Rights Watch went to visit, the site was still completely accessible with no fence, restrictions on access, or warning signs. Subsequently, the abandoned mine filled with rainwater in which the two teenagers drowned.įollowing the drownings, an official from the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, one of the municipal authorities in Ermelo, promised that the government would ensure access was restricted and erect warning signs at the mine site. The company had ceased operating the mine five years earlier when the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) found it did not have the requisite license for water use. The mine was last owned by Imbabala Coal (Pty) Ltd. It was the day 17-year-old Xolani Mthembu and his 14-year-old friend, Sifiso Yende, drowned in an abandoned coal mine in Wesselton on the northern outskirts of Ermelo. On September 24, 2016, everything changed for two families in Ermelo, a town in Mpumalanga province, eastern South Africa, in the heart of South Africa’s coal country.
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