Abstract
The opportunity to re-open old abandoned gold mines in South Africa, many of
which are forgotten and vandalized, presents the investor, government and
community a viable way to estalish a legal small scale mining industry. Under
the right circumstances many of these abandoned mines offer a potential return
on investment. The value add is not only for the investor and state, but also
benefits the surrounding communities that were established around these mines
years ago and could uplift the community’s current socio economic status.
Many of these gold mines have substantial mineral resources that could support
small scale mining for the next 10 years and play a material role in the inland
revenue of South Africa and the rejuvenation of the local economies.
The issue of abandoned gold mines is important to the South African nation
because it represents many former mining sites that continue to pose a real threat
to human health and safety, environmental damage and regional poverty and in
many cases, abandoned mines are considered a negative legacy to the mining
industry. The presence of old abandoned gold mines negatively influence the
public perception of the mining industry. Generally, abandoned mines are sites
where exploration, mining or mine production ceased often without rehabilitation
having been implemented or incomplete.
The re-opening of abandoned mines offers an opportunity to provide
employment for now defunct historical mining communities. If properly done,
small scale mining can offer employment to persons currently conducting illegal
mining – an extremely dangerous activity that most people undertake due to a
lack of other safer and legal opportunities.
This paper documents the methodology that is required to gain legal access to an
abandoned mine (shaft) for the purposes of exploration, technical economic
evaluation and fulfilling the necessary legal requirements to eventually bring the
abandoned mine to production.