Gunther said years of mining activity in the area around Witbank in Mpumalanga, South Africa, has disrupted natural water cycles. Water that would otherwise flow into rivers is leaking into mines, where coal deposits make it acidic.

This hampers mining activity and can lead to pollution of local water supplies but at the same time, growing demand for water from local communities and industry is draining supplies from local reservoirs.

“We saw an exciting opportunity to solve this problem by converting a mining environmental liability into a sustainable public/private partnership asset by addressing the water shortage challenge facing the local districts,” Gunther said.

Anglo Coal and BEE project partner Ingwe began exploratory work in 2002 on the feasibility of a plant that would convert waste water from the mines to drinking water standards. Local communities and water regulators were closely involved in the plans and the project was given the go-ahead in 2005.

The plant and storage dams are being constructed at Anglo Coal’s Greenside Colliery. The water treatment plant will neutralise acidic water from the mines, remove salts and metals and chlorinate the water.

The plant is expected to be completed in 2007 and will provide 20% of Emalahleni municipality’s daily water requirements.