Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 11 June 2010

A reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question has revealed that 125 mines in South Africa are operating without a valid water licence. While the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs claims to have a plan to expedite water licences for mines that have applied for these rights, the question to be asked is how are mines even allowed to begin operating if they do not have permission from the start to use water and discharge it thereafter back into water courses? And why are they allowed to continue to operate when it is known they do not have a water licence, especially in cases where no attempt has been made by mines to even apply for a mining licence? The situation around water use licences for mines is rotten and requires improved interventions by government before mines begin operating.

Untreated acid water

The figure of 125 mines operating without valid water licences is in fact higher than the figure of 104 mines in this situation which was provided in the reply to a similar parliamentary question last year. It is not clear why this is the case, but is most likely as a result of new mines coming into operation over this period. The greatest number of mines operating without water licences is in Mpumalanga where 54 mines use and discharge water without the necessary authorisations. Gauteng has 28 mines in a similar situation, while KZN and Limpopo have 12 each, and North West province 10. The Minister has revealed that 118 of these mines are in the process of applying for a water licence, while 7 have not yet applied, but continue to operate. The figures reveal that Mpumalanga’s water resources may be under severe threat from mining, both in terms of water availability for competing users and in terms of availability of water of a suitable quality. Last year there were 13 mines in Mpumalanga operating without water licences, now there are 54. Continue reading More mines operate without water licences