The proximity of many homes closer to Gold mine tailings has raised many concerns about the rights to health and a healthy environment due to documented links between proximity to mine dumps and increased respiratory diseases like asthma, pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis ( 1, 2, 4, 9 – 14 ).

Blyvooruitzicht is but one of thousands of abandoned mines scattered across South Africa, many from the gold industry. With recently shuttered mines adding to the massive impact of those left derelict years ago, the country faces a growing environmental, health and social crisis created by a withering gold industry and …

The technical and economic feasibility or re-processing hundreds of millions of tons of tailings in a number of historic gold tailings dams in the Witwatersrand area of South Africa is being investigated. The objective is to recover uranium and residual gold from the tailings, as well as to oxidize the sulphides to eliminate long term environmental …

More than a century of gold mining has left towering piles of bleached mine waste, known as "tailings," throughout Johannesburg's landscape. The discovery of gold in 1886 led to it's founding and ...

Gold tailings dams from the Witwatersrand Basin usually contain elevated amounts of heavy metals and radionuclides. Uranium, in the form of uraninite (UO 2) and brannerite (UTi 2 O 6 ), is normally associated with gold-bearing ores in the basin. As a result of acid mine drainage (AMD), uranium is released into groundwater and fluvial …

The tailings were of granitic composition enriched in potentially toxic elements such as copper, cadmium, zinc, lead, arsenic, and chromium. A representative sample of gold mine wastes of sandy ...

The tailings dumps originating from gold mining in South Africa's Witwatersrand still contain notable gold endowments. Most tailings reprocessing operations target a native gold fraction using re-milling and carbon-in-leach extraction; however, up to 50–70% of the remaining gold is still not recoverable and instead …

The tailings dumps originating from gold mining in South Africa's Witwatersrand still contain notable gold endowments. Most tailings reprocessing …

GOLD TAILINGS RECLAMATION IN. [ [. r: [ [ [ [ [. SOUTH AFRICA l. by JJP van Wyk2. Abstract. This paper deals with the history of rehabilitation (reclamation) on gold mine …

Tailings differ from overburden: the waste rock or material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced unprocessed and stockpiled separately (or co-disposed with tailings) during mining.

Gold mining in South Africa resulted in vast volumes of tailings, which have been deposited in impoundments. Poor management of most of the tailings dams resulted in the escape of seepage, adversely affecting soils and water quality. Some tailings dams have been partially or completely reclaimed leaving contaminated footprints. These zones …

Physicochemical properties, heavy metals, and metal-tolerant bacteria profiles of abandoned gold mine tailings in Krugersdorp, South Africa

This paper describes the rehabilitation status of a gold tailings storage facility (TSF) on the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The aim of the rehabilitation was to effect surface stability and dust control, rather than ecological restoration and closure.

With gold supply only increasing 1.5% to 2% a year worldwide and being constrained, South Africa has the equivalent of half a dozen gold mines in the form of tailings available for turning to ...

Witwatersrand in South Africa is home to the largest known gold reserves in the world, making the. country one of the world leaders in gold mining (Hart, 2014). However, gold mining has also resulted. in the generation of thousands of tailings dumps along the gold mining corridor from Nigel to.

This article corresponds to an independent study that answers questions concerning the definition of mine tailings and the socio-environmental risks linked with mine tailings chemical composition by examining the practical experience of industrial-scale copper and gold mining projects in Chile and Peru.

The tailings dumps originating from gold mining in South Africa's Witwatersrand still contain notable gold endowments. Most tailings reprocessing operations target a native gold fraction using re-milling and carbon-in-leach extraction; however, up to 50–70% of the remaining gold is still not recoverable and instead discarded to the re-dump stream …

Mining of minerals such as gold, copper, and platinum has been one of several activities sustaining the economy of South Africa. However, the mining sector has contributed significantly to environmental contamination through the improper disposal of mine tailings which covers vast areas of land. Therefore, this study utilised a …

TREATING CHROME TAILINGS FOR PGMs. Its operations are focused on the treatment of Samancor's chrome tailings dumps on the Western and Eastern limbs of the Bushveld complex. The Samancor dump operations contain about 500,000 ounces of PGMs at an estimated average non JORC compliant grade of 2.6 g/t. Sylvania director …

Treasure from trash: how mining waste can be mined a second time. Mineral processing tailings are pumped into a storage facility. Are there still valuable commodities in this waste?

Gold mine tailings, a legacy of the mining industry, harbors significant amount of radon gas, a classified human carcinogen. Radon exposure, especially near tailings, is a significant public health threat, potentially leading to increased risk of lung ...

Land pollution at gold mine dumps requires sustainable rehabilitation. A study was conducted at Muriel gold mine, Zimbabwe to investigate the integrated effects of dump age, topographic position and soil depth on chemical degradation, and vetiver grass ( Vetiveria zizanioides) performance.

The mining of the Witwatersrand conglomerates, dating to 1885, has resulted in a massive accumulation of six billion tons of tailing materials. Due to historical processing inefficiencies, these tailings are currently being re-mined as a secondary gold source. Chingwaru, who hails from Zimbabwe and finished his schooling in South …

Similarly, tailings dumps arising from the processing of chrome ore in the Lower Group reefs of the BC are also being retreated to recover PGEs. Several commercially profitable enterprises have also …

In the Blesbokspruit area of Ekuhurleni, South Africa, previous gold mining activities resulted in many tailings dump sites. 20 representative soil samples were used in describing the distribution of metals.

The tops of surface dumps and tailings surfaces often require reshaping to enhance surface drainage or water management prior to capping, topsoiling and grassing. The …

Tailings retreatment represents the greatest contribution to recycling by Pan African. By reprocessing waste rock and tailings to extract gold left behind during the initial mining …

The release to the environment of mining waste can result in profound, generally irreversible destruction of ecosystems. Waste from gold mines constitutes the largest single source of waste and pollution in South Africa. Gold mining waste was estimated to account for 221 million tonnes or 47 % of all mineral waste produced in …

This observation agrees with several studies conducted on gold mine tailings dams as potential source of HM contamination in adjoining soils and sediments in South Africa ( Bempah et al. 2013; Olobatoke and Mathuthu 2016 ).

Hydro-mining will be utilised at the larger tailings dumps, using hydraulic guns cutting mine widths of 15 m wide and 20 m deep. Load-and-haul mining will be used to extract resources from the smaller North Sands and South Sands tailings dumps.