The Federation for a Sustainable Environment conduct regular tours to the West Rand Gold Fields. This group included representatives from Business Leadership SA and SAIMechE.
The Australian Centre for Geomechanics will be holding the 22nd International Conference on Paste, Thickened and Filtered Tailings in Cape Town, South Africa from 8–10 May 2019, in collaboration with Paterson & Cooke.
This will be the fifth time that the event will be held in Southern Africa: Pilanesberg (2001), Cape Town (2004), Botswana (2008) and Rustenburg (2012).
Southern Africa, as a region, is water scarce and has experienced severe droughts for the last few years. Together with changes in local legislation requiring facilities to be lined, there is a renewed interest in paste and thickened tailings and dry stack filter options in the region.
Mariette Liefferink, the CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, South Africa will be presenting the keynote address on the 10th of May 2019, titled “Selected extracts from South Africa’s environmental legislation, challenges with the management of gold tailings within the Witwatersrand gold fields and case studies”
See program here.
PUBLIC MEETING
SAVE the VAAL is hosting a public meeting to discusspollution issues in the Vaal River.The meeting will be chaired by the Hon. Justice Lötter Wepener
Date & TimeSaturday 25 November 2017 at 11:00
Venue:124 Kaalplaats Windsor RoadParking at 122 Kaalplaats Windsor Road
Speakers:Malcolm Plant (Chairman: SAVE the VAAL)
Mariette Liefferink – CEO: Federation for a Sustainable Environment
Prof Johann Tempelhoff – Professor – North West `UniversityWater historian working in trans-disciplinary contexts
Jeremy Ridl – Environmental Law Specialist
RSVP if you are attendingText or phone Megan082-9072244 or 082-5705058
Registration Number - 011015200004
Committee members: Malcolm Plant - 0825662101 (Chairperson); Maureen Stewart (Vice-chairperson) – 0825705058; Thomas du Toit - 082 419 6526; Samson Mokoena – 084 291 8510; Johan Smit- 0832044674; Irene Main - 078 521 1676; Mike Gaade – 0825686826; Belinda Daymond- 0828078888.
Patron: The Hon. Justice W.L. Wepener
POLLUTION ISSUES IN THE VAAL RIVER
Report
The report may be opened as a PDF document.
Sand Dump 20 within the Randfontein residential area was allegedly the largest man made sand dump in the world. Sand Dump 20 was a significant source of dust fallout and water pollution.
As early as 1987, the US Environmental Protection Agency recognised that “.....problems related to mining waste may be rated as second only to global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion in terms of ecological risk. The release to the environment of mining waste can result in profound, generally irreversible destruction of ecosystems.”
The Green Scorpions have hauled three directors of Blyvooruitzicht and Village Main Reef gold mining companies to court for alleged significant pollution and environmental degradation.
The expansion of a mining project that cuts through a protected water system and a proposed wildlife migration corridor in North West province has been given the go-ahead by environmental authorities.
The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE), a group of community-based civil society organisations, has appealed the authorisation – arguing that “environmental decisions must achieve a balance between environmental and socio-economic developmental considerations through the concept of sustainable development”.
Read the full artiicle, including comment from the community, on OXPECKERS. Documentation is also available on the site.
A pioneering conservation plan to create a wildlife corridor linking the Pilanesberg National Park and the Madikwe Game Reserve appears to have collapsed because of mining and farming pressure in the North West Region.
The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE) has appealed the environmental authorisation for the expansion of the mining operations of Pilanesberg Platinum Mines within a highest biodiversity sensitive area and a national freshwater ecosystem priority area, which the FSE alleges, will adversely impact on the functionality and viability of the proposed Heritage Park.
It is envisioned that the proposed Heritage Park will establish the third largest conservation estate of about 270 000ha to ultimately create a migratory corridor for bigger mammals by combining the Pilanesberg National Park with the Madikwe Game Reserve.
WESSA paid tribute to a wide range of outstanding environmental achievements with the presentation of the organisation’s Annual Awards. These Awards were presented at the organisation’s 90th AGM, and Mariette Liefferink of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment was one of the recipients.
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