[miningmx.com] — DRDGOLD, a South African gold producer, said any attempt to make it pay for more than its contribution to acid mine drainage (AMD) problem would be challenged.
Issuing a statement on the current AMD crisis that threatens to overflow into the streets of Johannesburg, DRDGold said it believes the extent to which its activities have proportionately contributed to the extent of the problem is about 1.5%.
This figure was found by calculating the total amount of rock removed from underground as a percentage of the total – which it believes is the best available method of determining just how much rock bearing pollutants had been exposed by its activities.
“We are firmly of the view that any regulation or administrative conduct that would cast on to our company a burden in excess of that which of we were the cause will not withstand judicial scrutiny under the protection of our country’s constitution,” said DRDGold CEO, Niel Pretorius.
“On this basis, any attempt to force a financial burden on DRDGOLD would be challenged in the appropriate forum,” he said.
Pretorius’s comments come after warnings that AMD – water from mining activities that typically contains high levels of heavy metals and sulphates and is also highly acidic – was rising and urgent action was required to avert overflow below the city of Johannesburg.
The city sits on top of what is referred to as the Central Basin, an area with a legacy of over 100 years of mining.
In the absence of the pumping of mine water from this basin for more than a year now, the AMD is rising at between 600mm and 900mm a day, with its current level being 600m below the surface.
At this rate overflow will happen in the city, possibly even in the CBD, in early 2012, compromising the integrity of buildings and causing incalculable damage.
This means the window of opportunity in which to formalise a concrete response to this impending disaster is now only a few weeks away since the lead time for the required engineering will take between seven and eight months thereafter.
Government departments and mining companies have been locked in negotiations for the past few months on how best to tackle AMD and who should pay.
“On the one hand, as custodian of the collective interest of its shareholders, it is our duty as the executive of DRDGold not to assume a financial burden in excess of what the company is legally obliged to carry,” said Pretorius.
“On the other hand, as a good corporate citizen that has previously benefited from the mining of minerals on this site, it can be said that DRDGold ought to be seen to play an objective and constructive role in finding a solution for the legacy issues, AMD particularly,” he said.
To this end, DRDGold in collaboration with Harmony Gold Mining (HAR) and Mintails in 2005 established the entities which ultimately became Western Basin Environmental Corporation (WBEC) and Western Utilities Corporation (WUC).
