Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionthe highest concentrations of uranium and, when mining started in the early 1950s,nine of the 22 mines produced uranium as well as gold. Between 1952 and 1988, theyprocessed the uranium into more than 11,000 tonnes of yellow cake (U 3O 8) accordingto Coetzee et al [2006].But miners seeking a fortune here first had to conquer the aquifer that lay above thegold reefs. The aquifer consists of caverns weathered in the alkaline dolomite by themild natural acidity of rain water. A number of impermeable dykes divide the aquiferinto a series of ‘compartments’. These dykes also ensured that pressure within theaquifer forced the water up and out through a number of springs feeding into theWonderfonteinspruit. The water was of high quality and much prized by early blackfarmers and by the white farmers who displaced them. When the miners arrived andcreated a local market for food, the Wonderfontein Valley became a prime area forirrigation production according to mining geologist Jan Wolmarans [1984].Early attempts to sink shafts in the area were abandoned as the shafts flooded. Whenreal mining started in the 50s, the corporations pumped out water into existingirrigation channels, into overland pipes (one such pipe is 28 km long) or down to theWonderfonteinspruit. They thus dewatered the aquifer. The Wonderfontein springsstarted drying up from 1957 and the first sinkholes – resulting from the loss of pressurein the caverns – appeared in 1960 to much public alarm. This provoked an officialinquiry by the DWAF 66 and, on its recommendation, government decided to sacrificefarming and the aquifer to the interests of gold mining. Ever anxious to make someoneelse pay for the inconvenience of the aquifer, the mining corporations bickered aboutwho was responsible for pumping and disposing the water, so prompting the state toregulatory action. In 1963 it made dewatering compulsory for all mines in the area,confirming the sacrifice of the aquifer in the interest of peace between the mininghouses. Even so, the miners do not always win against the water. In 1968, the Wes-Driefontein mine was flooded.The dewatering led to extensive damage to farms in the area. In 1964, the Far WestRand Dolomitic Water Association was formed. Behind its bland name, it was a cat’spaw for the mining companies and each had to contribute according to the amountof water it was pumping out of its mines. The Association’s task was to receive public66 Department of Water Affairs, Final report of the Interdepartmental Committee regarding Dolomitic Mine Water: Far WestRand, November 1960. (Known as the Jordaan report).- 92 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation