Exploring strategies for management of disasters associated with illegal gold mining in abandoned mines: A case study of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality

Abstract

Due to many abandoned mines that are not rehabilitated, there will be illegal mining. Although the mining industry and government continue to prevent illegal gold mining in abandoned mines by sealing open shafts, it is not possible to close all the shafts at once due to limited resources. Furthermore, after sealing the shafts, illegal miners often create alternative openings to enter underground workings while little or nothing is being done to stop the surface illegal gold mining. As long as illegal gold mining is there, disasters associated with illegal mining are prevalent. Effective disaster preparedness and response requires a competent strategy. The purpose of this study was to develop a strategy that can be used for emergency preparation and rescue efforts associated with disasters caused by abandoned mines and illegal gold mining. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were held with officials and experts on disaster management from the Council for Geoscience and the City of Ekurhuleni. This study indicates that the safety of illegal miners and communities near abandoned mines depends on several factors including the ability to identify and respond to a disaster. The study identified three interlinked themes within the report as strategies for dealing with disasters related to abandoned mines and illegal gold mining. These themes included emergency countermeasures and short-term measures, roles and responsibilities and communication. These interlinked themes should be validated through further research that involves input from the national disaster response community at large. This study will serve as a model that can be implemented in other areas impacted by illegal mining in South Africa.

Acid Mine Drainage Treatment and Control: Remediation Methodologies, Mineral Beneficiation and Water Reclamation Strategies

“…The closure and abandonment of mines is not usually caused by total depletion of resources, hence the continued illegal mining activities. Mine closure is typically associated with falling financial returns based on metal values, or social, political, and environmental restrictions [121]. The lack of stringent regulations for controlling abandoned mines however results in heightened environmental distress through many factors including AMD formation.…”

Legacy Gold Mine Sites & Dumps in the Witwatersrand: Challenges and Required Action

“…With over 6000 derelict and ownerless mine sites, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMRE) programme of sealing and rehabilitating abandoned mine shafts is slower than envisaged due to a lack of resources [15]. After sealing the shafts, illegal miners create alternative openings around the sealed shafts to enter underground tunnels [16], thus sabotaging DMRE rehabilitation initiatives in spite of limited budgetary resources.…”

Dynamic assessment of community resilience in China: empirical surveys from three provinces

“…The assessment of community resilience research within the framework of comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation has become a foundational paradigm, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies for description and analysis (26). At the operational level, CART is one of the most influential questionnaires, which is a tool for assessing community disaster resilience capacity based on theory and evidence, and it has already been verified with good reliability and validity by various studies at home and abroad (27-29).…”