Mpumalanga Business 2021-22

ecoming too alkaline for consumption or industrial
use. This passive treatment has increased the pH level
from 2.8, which could not be consumed by human
beings, to around 6.8.
That is exciting. That is almost getting to a
textbook measure of pH. The water coming out
of our taps is not anywhere close to 6.8. If we can
replicate that, imagine all of that water that has been
contaminated by coal mining over the years in the
Mpumalanga area that could be sorted out?
We haven’t done the economic studies yet
but if we get it right, it should be highly costefficient.
The cost should not be an issue if and
when we get it right.
What other priority projects are you pursuing?
We are looking at mineral development projects
in Mpumalanga and others. We are excited about
the prospects that lie ahead. We are confirming the
extension of the Wits Basin beyond the previously
known areas. The result is that – over and above
coal mining – we think that gold mining in
Mpumalanga may just have a much longer future
than we thought before.
CGS passive mine water remediation pilot plant, Carolina.
What role is the CGS playing in the debate over
the just transition?
We will not be driving the whole debate but
the carbon capture utilisation and storage
is a scientific intervention that asks the
fundamental question – does transition
necessarily mean transition from coal or
does the transition mean we are making a
commitment to transition from high carbon to
low carbon?
Over many years we have developed the
capacity to generate our baseload from coal. We
still have huge resources of coal in South Africa
and we have installed generation infrastructure.
On the other hand, we have correctly made
commitments to be part of climate change
protocols.
There is no debate on the contribution of
carbon in accelerating the climate change, there’s
absolutely no debate there. But if there are scientific
interventions that can allow for that transition to
enable us to move from high to low carbon and
continue to burn the coal, then that is something
worth considering.
If human beings could send a man to
the moon in the 1960s, I don’t see why we
cannot find the appropriate technology
to use so that coal is part of our just
transitioning journey.
As the Council for Geoscience, our
contribution in the main is limited to the
science. We must also play a prominent
and critical role as a leader in mobilising
society around a particular position that
takes into account South Africa’s specific
societal circumstances.
35 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2021/22