Pretoria - In an important judgment concerning environmental law, the Supreme Court of Appeal again confirmed that although a mine has stopped its operations, it remains responsible to do all it can to prevent harm to the immediate environment until the mine is certified closed by government.
The court endorsed a previous Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, order that the Ezulwini Mining Company had a continued obligation to pump extraneous water from its underground mining area. This is in spite of the fact that it stopped its mining operations years ago.
The mining company turned to the Supreme Court to appeal the earlier high court order. It once again lost its case as the Supreme Court ruled that it had to continue pumping the underground water until the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy had issued it with a closure certificate.
In a preamble to its judgment, the Supreme Court said deep-level mining may require the management of extraneous water that enters the underground mining area.
Mine shafts are sunk from the surface occasionally to great depths in order to access rock seams containing mineral deposits. As these mining areas are worked to extract the mineral-bearing rock, voids are opened.
Groundwater from higher and adjacent areas seeps through fissures in the rock, under force of gravity, into the voids. When this occurs, the extraneous water must be pumped out and discharged at the surface of the mine in order to continue safely and effectively working these mining areas.
Such dewatering of the underground mining area is, in these circumstances, an essential feature of underground mining operations affected by the ingress of extraneous water.
Ezulwini operated a mine on the West Rand which it acquired from its predecessor in 2014. The mine has been working since 1961.
The pumping of extraneous water from the underground works at Ezulwini has been carried out for many years by the mine’s previous operators. The dewatering of mines has occurred at many mines operated on the West Rand.
Ezulwini has, since it took over mining operations from its predecessor, continued to pump extraneous groundwater from its underground mining areas. The extraneous water is pumped to the surface where it is treated before being discharged into natural water courses on the surface.
In September 2016, Ezulwini discontinued its underground mining operations as these were no longer economically viable. It has continued to conduct certain operations involving the processing of mineral-bearing material at its surface mining area.
In October 2017, Ezulwini applied for an environmental authorisation to cease the pumping of extraneous underground water. This was refused by the government, which prompted the mining company to turn to court.
In terms of the National Environmental Management Act, no closure certificate may be issued unless the chief inspector and each government department charged with the administration of any law which relates to any matter affecting the environment have confirmed, in writing, that the provisions pertaining to health and safety and management of pollution to water resources, the pumping and treatment of extraneous water and compliance to the conditions of the environmental authorisation had been addressed.
The legislative purpose is to ensure that environmental impacts, whether positive or negative, are identified, assessed, and managed. In the case of mining activity, this includes the impacts and consequences of all aspects of mining operations. It is to achieve this purpose that the cessation of mining operations and the closure of a mine is extensively regulated.
Ezulwini contended that it was under no legal obligation to continue the pumping operations to remove extraneous water seeping into its now unworked underground mining area.
But the Supreme Court disagreed and said in terms of the law it had an obligation – for now.
Pretoria News