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

of Natural Resources and the South African Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs (Australian Environmental
Protection Agency, 1995-1996; Weaver & Caldwell, 1999). The approach to integrating environmental
management into the full mine life cycle has also been adopted in South Africa (Freer, 1993).
Typical mining impact management and mitigation measures include the adherence to the Best Practice
Guidelines that have been developed for a range of mining activities (for example, water quality management),
investigating alternative locations for infrastructure and waste disposal sites, the adoption of different mining and
beneficiation technologies, the use of cleaner production technologies, recycling of water and specific materials,
pollution control measures, rehabilitation and landscaping, and the acquisition of additional property to
compensate for habitat loss (Ashton, 1999).
An important development in the improvement of environmental management practices in mining operations is
the growing awareness of, and acceptance of, formal management systems such as those developed by the
International Standards Organization (the ISO series of management guidelines). Increasing numbers of mining
operations are implementing the ISO 14000 series of environmental management plans, both in an attempt to
reduce and manage their environmental impacts, and to comply with growing international market requirements
for “certificates of environmental responsibility” by providers of goods and services. The ISO series of
guidelines is internationally accepted and provides mining companies with the necessary certification if an
environmental audit demonstrates that they comply with the conditions of their environmental management
plans.
In South Africa, mining environmental management practices are currently guided by the 1992 Aide Mémoire for
the preparation of Environmental Management Programme Reports for Prospecting and Mining (Department of
Minerals and Energy, 1992) and enforced by both the Minerals Act, No. 50 of 1991, and the National
Environmental Management Act, No. 107 of 1998. Recent developments aimed at improving environmental
management practices in the mining sector include the first draft of the new Minerals Development Bill, released
for comment by the Department of Minerals and Energy in December 2000, while the Aide Mémoire is currently
being revised and expanded.
By the very nature of its activities, the mining sector will continue to drive environmental change, despite the
plethora of environmental guidelines, legislation and substantial impact mitigation and management measures
developed to address many of the adverse environmental affects. Perhaps the most important challenge facing
the mining sector today is the need to embrace the concept of sustainable development and, in doing so, to
improve public perceptions, particularly with regards to social and environmental issues of concern.
3. THE ZAMBEZI BASIN
In order to provide a suitable background for subsequent descriptions of the impacts of mining on water
resources in the Zambezi 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.
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