The assessment of socio-economic impacts of dust in Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Village

Thabang Matlala*1, Johana Maruma2 and Mbali Mpanza 3

1 University of , House number. 5A Louisa Street

Corner of Siemert and Beit Streets, Johannesburg, 2001, ,[email protected]

1. Introduction

The process of winding-up and business rescue has been seen to enable mining companies to evade the costly closure obligation (Humby, 2017). A winding up process involves an insolvent company, placed under the custodianship of a liquidator, who manages the fair and equitable allocation of the company’s assets to its various creditors and the remaining assets to the partners or shareholders. This has resulted in premature mine closure enabling poor rehabilitation of tailings storage facilities, which is believed to be affecting surrounding communities. When a mine is disused huge amounts of trauma and frustration surrounds mining communities. The distress results from job losses, safety issues associated with "Zama Zama” (illegal miners) invading the disused shafts, electricity cuts, soil, water and air contamination (Digby, 2016). The gold mining sector is downscaling because of various gold mining shafts being closed or placed under care and maintenance. South Africa is known to have a huge legacy of appallingly closed mine sites attracting an estimated 70 000 Zama Zama (Digby, 2016).

Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining is a classic example of a mining company that has undergone premature closure through a winding-up process. Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company (BGMC) is one of the oldest gold mines in , South Africa. In 2013, Blyvooruitzicht was liquidated, leaving 1700 employees without jobs and the surrounding communities and businesses affected by the environmental degradation. The pumping of underground water to prevent flooding and accumulation of AMD stopped. The community of Blyvooruitzicht at New Village, the OK shopping centre and Ward 5 have been complaining about the dust that is dispersed during the windy season because of the unrehabilitated tailing storage facility number 6 see Figure 1.

TSF 6 dust

Shopping Centre

Figure 1.Tailings Storage Facility 6, Blyvooruitzicht Mine Village 2. Aims Using a structured questionnaire and interviews, this research aims to assess the socio-economic costs of environmental degradation because of dust dispersion on to the surrounding community. This study aims to raise awareness of capacity challenges in managing the relationship between premature mine closure, environmental and socio-economic impacts in South Africa. 3. Literature 3.1 Mine Liquidation Liquidation is regulated under the Companies Act 2008, 1973 and the Insolvency Act 1936. Companies Act 2008 refers to the 1973 act in chapter 14 under the winding up process. Winding up is a legal process whereby the company, and its affairs, are placed under the control of a liquidator. Neither the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) nor the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is informed when the company, initiates the winding up process, company law allows this to occur. A company can cease to exist without having rehabilitated the environment, which is part of the closure obligations. If there is no closure certificate issued for a mining company, the DMR may not access the financial provision set aside for rehabilitation in the trust (Humby, 2017). The sudden mine closure is persisting in South Africa and this is causing a catastrophe for the environment and surrounding communities.

3.2 Environmental challenges (dust) Air pollution because of unrehabilitated tailings dumps is believed to pose risks of respiratory diseases and cancer to surrounding communities. Nkosi et al. (2015) find that exposure to mine dumps and residing in close proximity to mine dumps pose an increased risk for respiratory diseases. Illnesses such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic cough, emphysema, pneumonia and wheeze are associated with communities residing in close proximity to mine dumps distance less than 5km (BMF, 2017). The respiratory illness is triggered by the fact that tailings material is usually fine-grained and can be inhaled and the material contains toxic heavy metals. Maseki et al. (2017), mention that dust storms from tailings dumps are prevalent during the spring season in the Basin. The PM10 aerosol concentrations can reach 2000 µg m-3(24-hour average). Maseki et al. (2017) conducted a health risk assessment of windblown dust, it revealed that elements such as As, U, Pb, Cd and Cr have an enrichment factor greater than 2. The dust containing the aforementioned elements was found to have an acceptable cancer risk level. However, other elements such as Si the major element in tailings was not analysed further. 3.3 Socio-economic issues Studies have reported that exposure of pregnant women to heavy metals and other industrial chemicals poses a risk of a compromised neural development of the fetus, resulting in mental retardation (Oelofse and Cobbing, 2014). Soil pollution from deposited tailings dust is known to pollute and affect the health of crops produced in a surrounding area. When a mine has closed prematurely, job losses and unemployment are on the rise. In addition, safety threats become prevalent coupled with an increase in health related expenditure 4. Blyvooruitzicht Blyvooruitzicht is a gold mining town located 6 km south of Cartonville, in the Province of South Africa (GolderAssociates, 2016). Blyvoor gold mine was established in the 1930s until the Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company Ltd. (BGMC, “Blyvoor”) was placed under liquidation in August 2013. The community of Blyvooruitzicht relied on BGMC for establishing schools, clinics and multiple churches and providing all basic services as well as employment. Figure 2 shows the Blyvoor mine village location in relation to tailings storage facility number 6, which is believed to be generating all dust.

Figure 2. Study site location plan 5. Methods This research utilises both quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to probe the subject of the socio-economic impacts of dust at Blyvoor. A structured questionnaire was designed such that the opinions and perceptions of Blyvoor residents are assessed. A series of structured interviews were conducted with the several businesses at Blyvoor. Other structured interviews involved personnel from the Centre of Environmental Rights, Lawyers of Human Rights and various liquidators. The DMR could not be reached for comment, which is unfortunate for this research. 300 households of Blyvoor were interviewed. 6. Results and Discussion The respondents that answered in the affirmative that dust does affect their socio-economic status, counted medical and cleaning costs as the major economic effects of dust see Figure 3. The residents of Blyvoor believe that dust brings about respiratory illnesses (97%), causing them to cough and have sinuses . During the windy season when there is dust, the community mentions that they spend a lot of money on medicine for coughing, nasal sprays or go to the clinic (R 25 four times per month) or doctors (R350-R500 four to five times per month). Approximately 96% of respondents mentioned that the dust management has not improved in the area of Blyvoor because TSF 6 has not been vegetated and there are no water sprinklers to suppress the dust.

The respondents (92%) also mentioned that they get discouraged to go to the shops during windy days because of impaired visibility on the road. This corresponds with what businesses are saying that during windy days when there is dust, customers do not come as much as when there is no dust. Other respondents (8%) mention that they go to the shops regardless of the dust. 100% of the respondents close all doors and windows and this costs them nothing to prevent dust from entering the house. Other members of the households mentioned that they put wet towels around the windows and they try to sweep the dust out.

Figure 3. Socio-economic costs of dust 7. Conclusions

The winding up process seems not to require a mining company to apply or have a closure certificate before it commences. The liquidator as the custodian of the company assets does not seem to be aware of whether there is sufficient financial provision for environmental remediation and rehabilitation. This enables companies to abandon mine waste and the responsibility to rehabilitate the environment. The conditions that result from the unrehabilitated tailings dumps affect surrounding communities’ health, well-being and economic status as stated by the Blyvoor community. The Blyvoor community has been unable since 2013 to avoid breathing and ingesting the pervasive dust from tailings dump number 6. 8. Recommendations

This study recommends the following:

1. Ring-fencing of funding towards SLPs is required as an obligation in the MPRDA. This will ensure the sustainability of mining-affected communities post mine closure or sudden mine closure due to liquidation. 2. A portion of the mine royalties and tax should be ring-fenced for socio-economic development of mining-affected communities. The DMR should clearly define the minimum amount of financial contribution towards SLP projects annually 9. References

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