Establishing a tailings storage facility database in Gauteng

Abstract

As an initial step of zero harm, an understanding of the scale and magnitude of Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) is necessary for risk assessments. There is no publicly available TSF database in each South African province with details on TSF distribution of risks and characteristics. TSF-related cases such as the Jagersfontein Tailings Dam failure and the crime challenges by illegal miners at the North Sands Dump are significant motivations to establish a publicly accessible TSF database, especially in Gauteng. The objectives of the study were to establish a TSF database comprising the spatial distribution of TSFs and to classify each TSF by its operational activity status. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy publishes data on TSFs, and it was used to create the database. Due to coordinate data limitations, only 94 TSFs could be presented on ArcGIS Pro. The study finds that there is almost an equal split of active and inactive TSFs in Gauteng. Most active TSFs are situated in the East Rand of Gauteng. Furthermore, companies that own some of the TSFs in Gauteng include Durban Roodepoort Deep Gold, which owns 70 % of TSFs, followed by AfriSam (6 %) and Blyvoor Gold (4 %). Companies need to disclose all their TSF data to strengthen the database.