Acid Mines

April 2001 – 26’

Witbank Mpumalanga. More than a hundred years of coal mining has left a bitter legacy. All that remains are abandoned mine dumps… where unemployed women scavenge for scraps of useable coal...

Matthew walking on coal heap

A small group of environmental activists is fighting this terrible legacy. One of them is Mathews Hlabane…

The earth is now burning…where coal was once dug from shallow mines. It sends up columns of smoke and poison water.

There is no one left to blame. The mining magnates are long gone. The present government inherited the problem… but simply doesn't have the money to deal with it.

The story of coal mining in Witbank is the story of a crime against nature. It is the story of the polluting of our water and the defiling of our land. It is the story of human tragedy.

Matthew walking into Thandi's house

Matthews is visiting Thandi Mhlangu She’s one of the women who dig for coal on the old dumps. A little over a month ago her son died. He was gathering coal in a deep trench when it collapsed. Thandi watched as he was crushed to death.

OVER Corronation Dump.

The Witbank Council owns Coronation Dump. By law it has to be rehabilitated. The question now is: whose responsibility is this?

Fire sequence staring off on the coal dump…

Nearly 50 years ago, the T&DB Coal Mine closed down. This company no longer exists. But its legacy remains. All around the land is collapsing. Underground fires rage. In some places they’ve been burning for decades. There is little hope of ever putting them out....

Over cows: (come in second cow shot )

Today it’s the government’s responsibility to sort out the problems here… and on the other seven abandoned mines in the area...

From Skhosana to clouds of smoke

In fact the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs hasn’t made these coal mines a priority… they’re putting their resources into rehabilitating asbestos mines in the Northern Cape.

POOL seq

It was in the mid 80s that Matthews and his friends became aware of environmental issues. Many others were engaged in the anti-apartheid “struggle”. But when a teacher began talking about the mines their passions were aroused. Although this group has drifted apart, they still come together to fight the really big battles.

water sequence

And in Witbank the biggest battle… is water. The collapsed land creates tunnels for rain to run into. The water mixed with the pyrites and pollutants in the mine shafts is called “acid mine drainage”. It bubbles out of the earth in places like this. It’s highly acidic and kills almost everything in its path.

aerial <<<<ADD MUSIC>>>

Those who committed this crime are long gone. It’s now up to the State to deal with the mess they’ve left behind. And the worst part of this mess is that it doesn't stay here. The water flows into the spruits and rivers… finally ending up in the drinking water system.

Purification plant

Realizing just how serious the problem is, the Department of Water Affairs stepped in. They built this water purification plant a few years ago… at a cost of over 40 million rand. It handles the acid mine drainage from T&DB… and another neighboring mine.

The plant’s expensive to run… costing between 2 and 3 million rand annually. And… the water that’s released back into the spruit... is still not useable… even though it’s been treated. The plan just doesn’t seem to be working. To make matters worse, nothing is being done about the water pouring out of the other 7 mines in the area!

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BREAK

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Water sequence from tailings dam at Adris farm

The legacy of mining in South Africa is not only confined to the area around Witbank. Polluted water also runs of gold mine-dumps on the Reef. If this pollution isn't carefully contained on the mine property… it can spill over into the surrounding areas.

Uranium was once mined at this gold mine in Fochville… near Potchestroom. Now South Deep only mines gold. Yet, uranium still find its way into the water…. The water that leaks from this particular mine is radioactive...

Henk's Image Dissolve

This image was taken in 1991. The red shows “elevated” radiation leaking from South Deep Mine… right onto Adri and Willie Brits farm. As far back as 1984 South Deep hired consultants to study the area. Their findings showed that pollution was leaking onto the neighboring farms... and that the pollution was radioactive. But they did nothing about it.

Willie with cows

All this time… Adri and Willie and their family were living on the farm and drinking the water. They even made their babies’ formula with this water.

The first hint that something was wrong… was when their children got sick a little over a year ago. But after many tests the doctors still couldn't find the problem. Then they became suspicious....

Adri taking water samples Adri and Lesley at his office

When Adri realised there was a problem she stopped her children from drinking the water. Almost immediately they got better.

her at Lesley:

Adri took her problem to Dr Lesley Stoch, an expert on mine pollution... This water was taken from her bore-hole in January....

Video

Radioactive water isn't the only problem these farmers have to contend with. This home video shows the dust that blows off the mine dump in the dry winter months...

she gets in car

Together with Leslie… Adri approached the mine.

he kisses her.. she leaves ... :

“Placerdome” has recently taken over the mine…a Canadian owned company. When Adri presented the results of her water tests they reacted quickly...

The meeting starts:

A series of meetings has already taken place. Finally, the mine acknowledges that they had polluted the water…

Real time meeting Ups Mine acknowledging

Leslie looking at the river with them… <<<ADD MUSIC>>>>

These problems aren't new to Leslie…. He’s been fighting the mines for well over thirty years …

UPS LESLIE about being young Leslie on where he is up to now

After our investigation, Placerdome started talking to the farmers about buying them out. They’re planning to build another mine dump.

For the farmers there’s still no certainty about their future… or the long-term effects this pollution may have… on their health.

<<<ADD MUSIC >>>End music starts under end of Lesley: TRACK 17 Eleni Karaindrou (music for films) farewell theme.

THE END