OVERVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF MINING ON THE ... - IIED pubs

Box 1.2). Each research team is required to ensure that the emphasis of their work is directed towards helping
stakeholders understand how the mining and minerals processing sector in southern Africa can best contribute
to the region’s transition to sustainable development. Whilst it is imperative to identify the variety and scale of
impacts exerted by the mining and minerals processing sector on the environment, it is then equally important to
determine the most appropriate ways to minimize and manage these impacts.
1.3 Approach to the project
1.3.1 Project team
The Project Team who conducted the investigation and report writing for Research Topic 4 comprised the
following individuals:
• Dr Peter Ashton – CSIR-Environmentek, South Africa – Research Co-ordinator and Project Manager;
• Mr David Love – Mineral Resources Centre, University of Zimbabwe – Principal Investigator;
• Professor Paul Dirks – Mineral Resources Centre, University of Zimbabwe – Project Supervisor and
Reviewer (Zimbabwe sector); and
• Ms Harriet Mahachi – Mineral Resources Centre, University of Zimbabwe – Assistant Investigator.
Project Team members from the Mineral Resources Centre at the University of Zimbabwe focused on the
Zimbabwean sectors of the Zambezi and Limpopo basins; the remaining portions of the Zambezi, Limpopo and
Olifants basins were dealt with by the CSIR-Environmentek researcher.
1.3.2 Information collection
The time and budget constraints placed on this research topic necessitated a very structured and tightly
controlled approach to achieving the respective objectives within the time allowed. This required members of
the Project Team to focus attention only on the most relevant and important information that was readily
available, and precluded large data gathering campaigns to collect new data.
In view of these constraints, most attention was focused on:
1. Structured interviews with selected individuals who have long experience with general water management
issues in the mining and minerals processing sector;
2. Consultations with a few key stakeholders in the mining industry to obtain information related to specific
mining operations in the selected river basins;
3. Consultations with key stakeholders in relevant Government departments who are concerned with water
resource management and pollution control to obtain information related to the three river basins
investigated;
4. Retrieval of information and policy documents available from the SADC Mining Sector Co-ordinating Unit
website;
5. Retrieval of information from Internet sites maintained by major mining companies that are active within the
three river basins under investigation;
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