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An Assessment of Abandoned Mine Reclamation in South Africa Using a Survey of Environmental Experts

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An Assessment of Abandoned Mine Reclamation in South Africa Using a Survey of Environmental Experts AN ASSESSMENT OF ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA USING A SURVEY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS by Andisiwe Stuurman B.S. Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, 2011 B.S. (Honors), University of Fort Hare, 2012 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Science degree Department of Geography and Environmental Resources in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale May 2015 THESIS APPROVAL AN ASSESSMENT OF ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA USING A SURVEY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS By Andisiwe Stuurman A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in the field of Geography and Environmental Resources Approved by: Dr. Silvia Secchi, Chair Professor Patricia MccCubbin Dr. Leslie Duram Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale April 10, 2015 AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF ANDISIWE STUURMAN, for the Master of Science degree in Geography and Environmental Resources, presented on APRIL 10, 2015, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: AN ASSESSMENT OF ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA USING A SURVEY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Silvia Secchi Abandoned mines are those in which mining activity has ceased and there is no entity or company that can be traced to take responsibility for their maintenance or reclamation. It has been reported that there are approximately 6,150 abandoned mines in South Africa and it is estimated that it will cost $US4.2 billion to rehabilitate these mines over a very long period of time. The South African Department of Mineral Resources has set a reclamation target of 12 abandoned mines per year. This low target is what led to the interest in understanding the dynamics of abandoned mine reclamation in South Africa. An online survey of environmental experts in South Africa was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015 to elicit their opinions on the public’s perception of abandoned mine reclamation and to assess whether their views are aligned in terms the cost of reclamation, sources of funding, how to accelerate the process of reclamation and credible sources of information for environmental issues. A total of 54 responses were collected, with good representation of respondents from each province in South Africa although the majority came from Gauteng, Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The results of the survey revealed that there are several challenges that are slowing down the process of reclamation in South Africa including limited sources of i funding, water resources at risk, and disproportionate ratio of experts between the private and public sector. About 80% of the respondents in the survey said that the public would not be willing to contribute towards a reclamation fund. A majority of the respondents who consider themselves experts in reclamation were of the opinion that the government and the mining industry should be primarily responsible for reclamation. After careful review of the results and other government reports related to reclamation in South Africa, it appears that the establishment of an abandoned mine reclamation fund would be a good policy for South Africa, as would be conducting studies to explore possible funding options, ring-fencing tax money for special purposes such as reclamation of abandoned mines, and developing guidelines and standards for abandoned mine reclamation or land reclamation. ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to my grandparents, without their support and love, I would not be where I am today. To my son, Ulikhaya, thank you for being strong enough to bear with the distance and time apart from your mom. I am so privileged to have a family that believes in me, my parents, sisters, aunts, and my boyfriend Bulumko, I truly appreciate your encouragement and prayers. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I thank God for all His blessings upon my life and His sovereign ways. I would like to thank the Fulbright Program and all those who have financially contributed towards my studies for the opportunity to experience a different culture and education system. I am very grateful to my academic advisors Dr. Silvia Secchi and Dr. Christopher Lant who have been helping me throughout the entire research period and have constantly guided me in the right direction. I would also like to my committee members Dr. Leslie Duram and Professor McCubbin for taking time to read my thesis and giving me great insights from their academic experience. A special thank you goes to the participants in this study, who were so eager to voice their opinion and contribute to the study. I would also like to thank SIUC for providing the platform for to conduct this research. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... i DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 – Introduction................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 – Literature Review ......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 3 – Methods...................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 4 – Results ....................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER 5 – Discussion .................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER 6 – Conclusion and Recommendation ............................................. 56 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 58 APPENDICES Appendix A- Survey Request and Questionnaire .............................................. 65 VITA ........................................................................................................................... 75 v LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE Table 1: Details of respondents by age and race group ................................................ 23 Table 2: Coding categories for questions 1-4 ................................................................ 28 Table 3: Coding categories for questions 5-7 ................................................................ 29 Table 4: Coding categories for questions 15 and 17 .................................................... 29 Table 5: Respondents’ ranking of water problems ........................................................ 33 Table 6: Respondents’ level of expertise in abandoned mine reclamation ................... 36 Table 7: Respondents’ prediction of public awareness about abandoned mine reclamation .................................................................................................................... 37 Table 8: Mechanisms of fee collection suggested by respondents .............................. 39 Table 9: Respondents’ prediction of probability of contribution from 0-25% of the population...................................................................................................................... 40 Table 10: Respondents’ prediction of probability of contribution from 25-50% of the population...................................................................................................................... 41 Table 11: Respondents’ prediction of probability of contribution from 50-75% of the population...................................................................................................................... 42 Table 12: Respondents’ prediction of the probability that 75-100% of the population would contribute towards a reclamation fund ................................................................ 43 Table 13: Estimation of the household contribution from low income households ........ 45 Table 14: Estimation of the household contribution from affluent households ............. 45 Table 15: Respondents’ opinion of the relationship between willingness to pay and distance from abandoned mine site .............................................................................. 46 vi LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE Figure 1: Coal mining externalities ................................................................................ 10 Figure 2: Correlation between abandoned mines in South Africa and Population density ........................................................................................................ 21 Figure 3: Respondents’ occupation by sector .............................................................. 24 Figure 4: Distribution of respondents by province in South Africa ................................. 24 Figure 5: Respondents opinion of who should be financially Responsible for reclamation. ......................................................................................... 31 Figure 6: Respondents’ opinion of financial responsibility by level of expertise ............ 32 Figure 7: Ranking of the most important risk related to abandoned mines ................... 33 Figure 8: Analysis of respondents’ level of expertise
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