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

5. THE OLIFANTS CATCHMENT
In order to provide a suitable background for subsequent descriptions of the impacts of mining on water
resources in the Olifants basin, this section starts with a brief overview of the catchment characteristics. This is
then followed by condensed descriptions of the information relating to mining activities and their impacts in each
sub-catchment.
The Olifants basin is actually a sub-catchment of the Limpopo basin but has been treated separately in this
report. As a result, the figures used in this report for the catchment area, runoff, and population of the Limpopo
basin exclude the relevant details for the Olifants basin that are given here.
5.1 Introduction
The Olifants River is a very important river in southern Africa and its basin comprises portions of two SADC
states (Mozambique and South Africa; Table 5.1; Figure 1.1), and forming the largest sub-basin of the Limpopo
system (Figures 4.2 and 4.3). The Olifants basin is located between 22.5 ° and 26.5 ° South latitude and
between 28.5 ° and 324.8 ° East longitude, with a total area of approximately 87,000 km 2 , comprising roughly
4.3% of the total area of the two basin states. The area contributed to the basin by each state varies between
1.6% (Mozambique) and 6.1% (South Africa; Table 5.1).
Table 5.1: Area statistics for the two SADC states comprising the Olifants basin [Data obtained from Midgley et
al. (1995) and Boroto & Görgens (1999)].
Country
Total Area of
Country (km 2 )
Country Area
in Basin (km 2 )
Proportion of
Country Area (%)
Proportion of
Basin Area (%)
Mozambique 801,590 12,600 1.6 14.5
South Africa 1,219,912 74,400 6.1 85.5
Totals: 2,021,502 87,000 4.3 100.0
The Olifants River has a relatively dense network of tributary streams and rivers, though most of the tributaries
in the lower reaches of the catchment only have either seasonal or episodic flows. In historical times, the
Olifants River was considered to be a strong-flowing perennial river but is now regarded as a weakly perennial
river where flows frequently cease and, during drought periods, flows may be hardly discernable over large
stretches of the lower reaches of the river.
The Olifants basin encompasses an important ecological transition zone that marks the junction of four separate
bio-climatic regions. The area is considered to be very important in terms of the diversity of its fauna and flora
and also contains several important conservation areas. In addition, the Olifants basin supports a very large
population, including some of the region’s poorest rural communities, as well as numerous urban areas and
farming communities and important forestry areas.
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