#mark olalde

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

South Africa’s Toxic Legacy

Mark Olalde

The story of South Africa’s failed mine closure system proves to be more and more complex as I investigate it further.

For example, I published a feature on sinkholes – initially a topic I did not see as overtly mining related – in The Star, Johannesburg’s oldest daily newspaper. I focused on an area about 50 miles west of the city, where sinkholes first began forming in the 1960s when mining houses pumped water out of the underground void in order to reach the gold reef. Roughly 2,500 sinkholes have been identified in South Africa, nearly half of them in this area. Now, the gold is running out, and mines are abandoned one by one. As mining companies walk away from their operations, pumping stops and the void is in danger of flooding. When underground compartments recharge with water due to mine abandonment, historic sinkholes are expected to reactivate and fall again.

I also reported stories on the potential for seabed strip mining off the country’s western and southern coasts for the Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalism and Inter Press Service. While the 6,000 abandoned mines that initially brought me to South Africa are terrestrial, the fishing industry and environmentalists fear the impacts from marine mining could be even more severe. The Department of Mineral Resources has historically failed to enforce proper rehabilitation, and marine mining relies on extraction methods that could disturb areas far greater than what is directly mined. Granted prospecting rights for offshore mining cover 10 percent of the country’s marine exclusive economic zone, and this untested mining method involves discharging its mine waste directly into the water column.

As I continue to investigate mine closure and rehabilitation, I imagine this trend of newly identified impacts and new stories will only grow larger.

For more of Mark’s Reporting, visit his project at “South Africa’s Toxic Legacy”

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

South Africa’s Toxic Legacy

Mark Olalde

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources holds a very intriguing – although unfortunately still unpublished – list, which identifies every “derelict and ownerless” mine in the country. This demarcation applies to the more than 6,000 abandoned mine sites scattered across the nation, which was built on the minerals extraction industry.

 Over the years, mining companies have folded and reopened and changed names and merged. The responsible parties have essentially washed their hands of responsibility. But that list only addresses historical wrongs. What about the mines recently abandoned?

 This 6,000 figure is likely a vast understatement of the true extent of the problem, as the current mining industry continues the tradition of mine abandonment. Mining houses’ tactics are varied and creative. They can say a mine is in “care and maintenance,” which means they forgo environmental and social rehabilitation while waiting for commodities prices to rebound. Or, they can liquidate a company and escape responsibility for cleaning up a mine. Or, they can use shell companies. Hence, the issue is endemic.

 South Africa’s mine closure system, though slightly broken, has much potential. Prior to beginning operation, mining companies are legally obligated to open mine closure trust funds or other financial provisions for environmental rehabilitation. This means they set aside money for the environment in case anything happens before natural closure.

 I am reporting in South Africa because I obtained the first ever public release of documents pertaining to a number of these funds. I will be travelling to potential mines, operational mines and abandoned mines in order to find out how this money is being used and if someone will finally be forced to clean up the environment.

For more of Mark’s reporting, visit his project at “South Africa’s Toxic Legacy”

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

Picture: Mine employees work atop a massive tailings pile on the Far West Rand. Credit: Mark Olalde

South Africa’s Toxic Legacy

Mark Olalde

XOLOBENI, Eastern Cape – Volkswagen Polos were not meant to take off-roading, but sometimes roads don’t lead to the best stories. In one of South Africa’s most rural provinces, much of the land is communally held, and I am looking to find out what this means when multinational companies try to mine there.

 With the help of generous grants such as that from the Pulitzer Center, I have been able to travel to some of the most remote parts of this country to investigate.

 In December alone, I visited four of the country’s nine provinces to get past a phone call and find out what is truly happening on the ground. In addition to the Eastern Cape, I visited communities in Mpumalanga living mere meters from heaps of coal bound for power stations. One resident told me about the community’s children carefully picking their way around abandoned pits where underground fires burn on their way to school every day.

 Across the province of Gauteng, I walked into, drove around and flew over (pictured) unremediated goldmines. In the Free State, I spoke with former mineworkers and stumbled across the largest illegal mining operation I’ve ever seen. The trip also added color to my story I would have otherwise missed. Driving to meet my sources hit me with the disparity between one city’s numerous roundabouts – a vestige of the city’s history as a proposed utopian community – and the hostels once used as a tool of Apartheid and still a symbol of economic disparity.

Back in Johannesburg, I piece all these facets of the story together and am able to produce print, photography, audio, video and databases that would otherwise be impossible.

To read more of Mark’s reporting, visit his project at “http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-africas-toxic-legacy”.

[pulitzerfieldnotes]

South Africa’s Toxic Legacy

Mark Olalde

South Africa’s mining researchers have a running joke that goes something like this: “Our mining is from A to Z.”

 “A” is for AngloAmerican, one of South Africa’s historically largest mining houses, which has spun off numerous companies across gold, platinum and other sectors. A huge number of mines in the country and around the world can be linked back to that single company through ownership, boards of directors and its sphere of influence.

 “Z” is for zama zama, a Zulu phrase translating to “We try! We try!” Zama zamas are South Africa’s illegal, small-scale gold miners who work mainly in the abandoned mines surrounding Johannesburg. Last year alone, they accounted for an estimated $430 million in informal economy revenue.

 Gold mining on the Witwatersrand Basin, which contains the gold reef surrounding Johannesburg, began 130 years ago, and many mines have since shut down operations. However, with a history of failed mine closure legislation, South Africa is home to more than 6,000 abandoned mines, and those sites become attractive targets for zamas.

 Linked to international criminal syndicates, zamas often bring violence to nearby communities, and the government has not succeeded in slowing them through arrest numbers, already over 800 for this year. In large part, this is due to the nearly endless abandoned mines available to zamas and the government’s insufficient resources available to close all the exposed shafts.

 The fallout from improperly regulating mine closure is a complex issue leading to environmental, economic, health and social issues. This is still a relatively new concept in the research surrounding mine closure and is not free from growing pains for the necessary interdisciplinary teams of government, academia and civil society.

For more of Mark’s reporting, visit his project at “South Africa’s Toxic Legacy”