Closing South Africa’s owner-less and derelict mines and draining polluted water from the operations could cost almost 60 billion rand ($6.6 billion).
The cost to close and make the mines safe was estimated at 45.1 billion rand, and a further 2 billion rand for old asbestos pits, according to a study by the Department of Mineral Resources and the Council for Geoscience. Cleaning up toxic water leaking from mines, known as acid-mine drainage, would cost about 10 billion rand.
Download the eBook version of Lonely Planet's PDF Southern Africa travel guide
Southern Africa rings with legend: the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari, Fish River Canyon, Kruger, Victoria Falls, Cape Town - these are just a few of the iconic destinations that unfurl African dreams.
Coverage includes: Planning chapters, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Understand and Survial chapters.
The cost to close and make the mines safe was estimated at 45.1 billion rand, and a further 2 billion rand for old asbestos pits, according to a study by the Department of Mineral Resources and the Council for Geoscience. Cleaning up toxic water leaking from mines, known as acid-mine drainage, would cost about 10 billion rand.
Southern Africa rings with legend: the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari, Fish River Canyon, Kruger, Victoria Falls, Cape Town - these are just a few of the iconic destinations that unfurl African dreams.
Coverage includes: Planning chapters, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Understand and Survial chapters.
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