Post closure environmental impacts of asbestos mining in Penge, Limpopo Provincve, South Africa

Abstract

Asbestos mining in South Africa has been carried out for more than a century. The Penge Mine started operations in 1914 and was closed in 1992. Following closure of the mine, the houses and mine buildings were used for residential purposes by former workers and by local inhabitants. The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) conducted rehabilitation of the asbestos mine dumps, following rehabilitation, the Limpopo Local Government proposed to declare the mine village a formal living area and this concerned a number of stakeholders, especially the Asbestos Relief Trust (ART). Dr Stephen Donohue, a former principal specialist in the Department of Health and Social Development, conducted a site visit to Penge in December 2006 to assess plans for development of the village and hospital. He found that the Penge area was heavily contaminated with amosite asbestos and was not suitable for human occupation. The objectives of this study were to review literature in order to explore and compare case studies from around the world on asbestos dump rehabilitation, to analyze and interpret soil, fauna and flora data collected by Rehabilitation Design and Construction (REDCO) Services and to critique the DME guidelines on rehabilitation of asbestos mine dumps. The results of the study highlighted that asbestos mining results in environmental contamination and health problems. The review of the case studies showed that the most common asbestos mine dump rehabilitation method is capping, whereby topsoil (asbestos free) is used to cover the mine dumps and indigenous vegetation is planted. Communities living in the vicinity of contaminated areas are either temporarily relocated during rehabilitation or they are permanently relocated in their best interests and the environment. Rehabilitation areas are usually fenced to restrict access to humans and animals. It was also noted in the case studies that extensive monitoring programs were developed in order to assess the success of the rehabilitation process. Asbestos fibres can contaminate the environment for many decades and monitoring programmes need to be of a long-term nature. to be of a long-term nature. iii Analyses and interpretation of the data collected by REDCO highlighted poor record keeping by DME on rehabilitation measures implemented at Penge, information was either incomplete or was not available. The dumps were capped with 300 mm topsoil and available information indicated that three different treatments were applied with respect to re-vegetation: 1) Dumps 1 and 2 were planted by spreading manure containing Dichrostachys cinerea and Acacia tortilis seeds; 2) Dumps 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 received no treatments; 3) Dumps 9, 10 and 11 were planted with Euphorbia tirucali. No manure was applied. No grasses and forbs were planted during the rehabilitation of the dumps. There are no data on where the soil was sourced or its properties, hence, there was no baseline data for this study. Soil, fauna and vegetation data were collected by REDCO from the dumps in 2007. Whilst there were very few treatment effects, the results did indicate that significant amounts of vegetation had established on the dumps. It was noted that carbon levels were low and that organic matter should be added to the system for long term sustainability. The DME formulated technical guidelines on the rehabilitation of asbestos mine dumps in South Africa. Although the guidelines where formulated after rehabilitation of the mine dumps was complete, the dumps were rehabilitated according to the requirements of the guidelines. However, the requirement of monitoring following rehabilitation was not followed through in Penge. The DME guideline requirements are similar to the rehabilitation efforts implemented in other parts of the world. Dispersement of allocated funding from the DME to consultants and contractors limits rehabilitation of dumps in South Africa. Although the guidelines were not completely followed, this study identified some positive outcomes. The results presented in this project should be utilised as a baseline for future studies in order to determine the success or failure of rehabilitation efforts. Overall the study indicated that the Penge community was at risk of contracting asbestos related diseases and that the best solution for the local community would be permanent relocation. In addition, continuous monitoring should be conducted at Penge to monitor the success or failure of rehabilitation in the long term.