Abstract
Mining is important for the South African economy, as it is for many developing African nations. In 2017, mining was reported to contribute 6.8 % to the South African GDP and provided more than 460, 000 jobs. Though mining adds an enormous amount of value to the country, it has significant impacts on the environment and the socio-economic factors of a society. The well-documented environmental impact of mining operations on surface and groundwater systems, known as Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), is just one of these environmental impacts. There are also other impacts such as the pollution of agricultural soils, the creation of sinkholes and air pollution. For example, airborne dust remains a persistent problem in South African urban areas due to the climatic conditions, extensive surface mining, unrehabilitated tailings dumps and mineral processing. However, very little is reported on the socio-economic costs that are due to poor environmental management. Some scholars assert that despite the Mine Health and Safety Act, deposition monitoring guidelines and national dust regulations, South Africa still experiences persistent dust problems, especially in coal and gold mining districts. This paper investigates the effect of gold mining dust pollution in and around Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Village, in South Africa. A quantitative and qualitative approach was used, where the community of Blyvooruitzicht was interviewed to examine their perceptions on dust pollution and their socio-economic environment. This paper examines how poor and premature mine closure by liquidation results in unrehabilitated mine tailings and how this has significant impacts on the socio-economic status of individuals and surrounding businesses. The community of Blyvoor being investigated in the paper, perceives the dust fallout impact to be a socio-economic threat. The paper finds that the community believes it incurs financial expenditures due to treating respiratory related diseases triggered by dust fallout.