Socio Economic Aspects of Mine Closure

No operating full scale frictional ignition test facility was found anywhere in the world, and building one was judged expensive, impractical and unlikely to justify its cost against laboratory scale testing. Effort should instead go to small scale laboratory equipment using South African rocks, and to expanding geological data such as silica distribution and petrographic analysis.

Monitoring and geochemical modelling at five pilot sites, on undisturbed soils and on opencast spoils, showed that most soils held a large share of the applied salt in the upper unsaturated zone and that salinity built up slowly. Leachate volumes, leachate quality and aquifer mixing ratios were quantified. Irrigation is recommended on alternating pivots and for no longer than ten years in one area.