Issued by: Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs
THE DUST PROBLEM AT THE RAND LEASES SLIMES DAM AND DUMP
When Durban Roodepoort Deep Gold Mine acquired the Rand Leases gold mine last year, they accepted responsibility for managing the impact of their activities on the environment and surrounding communities.
Residents of Diepmeadow had complained about the unacceptable dust problem, which resulted in a meeting between the Rand Leases Gold Mining Company, the Diepmeadow City Council, concerned residents and officials of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs during January last year.
It was decided to consult experts such as Fraser F Alexander, Environmental Civil & Mining Projects (Pty) Ltd and Wastetech to allay the dust on the dams. This resulted in testing a process of spraying ligno sulphonate (a chemical binding compound) over the top-surface of the dam, as this was the worst dust source. This process proved to be only partially successful as the ligno sulphonate treated area was damaged by pedestrian traffic.
Following the acquisition of Rand Leases Gold Mining Company by Durban Roodepoort Deep Gold Mine, production at the Rand Leases gold plant was temporarily suspended. THis resulted in no slime being deposited which caused the dam to dry out, thus worsening the dust problem.
The Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs, Mr Pik Botha visited the site on 22 October last year and held discussions with the representatives of the community and the Transitional Council of Johannesburg as part of the problem solving process. This followed earlier discussions between Minister Botha and Representatives of the community in his offices in Pretoria.
The new management took the initiative in forming a committee to address the problem. This committee included elected members of the local community of Meadowlands and were to be responsible, with management, for the interests of the mine and the affected community. A number of options to suppress the dust were presented to the Committee, who discussed the proposals with the community, for their consideration and co-operative approval. Finally, a mutually acceptable decision was made to vegitate the dump and to start by grassing the side slopes.
The Vegitation project consists of four phases. The first phase entails the erection of the watering facility and the second, third and fourth constitute the grassing phases of the north, east and south side slopes respectively. The first phase is now complete and evident for all to see. It has already been in use for some time, leaching the acidity out of the top-soil in preparation for the grassing phase, which is about to begin.
29 February 1996