Pictured: Acid mine water

The start of construction for the pump station and treatment works at the South West Vertical mine shaft, just east of Germiston CBD, marks a major milestone in the government’s fight to prevent acid mine drainage from the closed Witwatersrand gold mines entering the Vaal River, and consequentially causing a shortage of water to consumers in Gauteng and the surrounding provinces.

This is according to a statement released by the TCTA on 22 February 2013. With funding and environmental authorisation given, and agreement reached with ERPM for access to land, infrastructure and tailings facility, TCTA was able to give the green light to Group Five to commence construction.

“Time waits for no man and while all the challenges were being resolved acid mine drainage (AMD) continued to fill the mines, so that as of today the water level is approximately 256 m below the top of the shaft leaving only 70 m before the reaching the environmental critical level,” said TCTA media liaison officer, Luzamo Sandlana, in the statement.

According to Sandlana, at the current rate of rise it is predicted this will occur in September 2013. The environmental critical level was determined by scientists and engineers and is the level where it is predicted that the AMD will be safely contained in the mines and will not seep out and pollute the external environment.

The scale and the complexities of the project are enormous. The mine shaft is over 1 500 m deep (nearly seven times the height of the Carton Centre) and the pumps, which are 15 m high and weigh 25 t, must be lowered 200 m down the shaft without dropping them. The treatment works is three times larger than the next biggest similar treatment plant in South Africa at eMalahleni with its highly complex concrete structures, piping and electrical systems.

The site, bordered by Tide, Brammer and Power streets, is part of the former East Rand Proprietary Mine, and has been unused since 2008 when, all the buildings and headgear were demolished after the closure of the old AMD treatment plant and shaft. The construction of the new plant by the Department of Water Affairs, in conjunction with their implementing agent TCTA, will transform the area with the construction of a state-of-the-art treatment plant and will provide approximately 300 temporary jobs during construction and 30 to 40 permanent jobs when operating.

“It will, therefore, be a race against time as construction will only be completed by November 2013.”

Critical Facts

	Western Bbsin	Central basin	Eastern basin
Volume of AMD that needs to be treated	27 Mℓ/d	57 Mℓ/d	82 Mℓ/d
Environmental rritical level	1 550 m amsl(165 m bcl)	1 467 m amsl(186 m bcl)	1,280m amsl(290 m bcl)
Current level	0.88 m bcl	256 m bcl	423 m bcl
Breach of ECL if pumping does not commence	Breached already. Objective is to draw the water down to ECL	Sep/Oct 2013	Nov 2014
Location of treatment plant	Rand Uranium, Mogale City	South West Vertical Shaft, Germiston	Grootvlei No. 3 Shaft, Springs