MINING

INTEGRATED GEOSCIENCE

Targeting Sustainable Development in South Africa

South Africa is a country that relies heavily on its natural resources for development. However, long-term exploration, extraction and utilisation of some of the natural resources have left South Africa with several negative implications that need to be addressed.

BY THE COUNCIL FOR GEOSCIENCE

ANTHROPOGENIC EFFECTS

The minerals and mining sectors contribute significantly to the country’s economy. Furthermore, these industries also contribute significantly towards the nation’s employment and associated socioeconomic development.

In general, places that have experienced longstanding mining and minerals processing display evidence of surface and air pollution that is detrimental to human and environmental health. The extended use of fossil fuels for energy generation has resulted in South Africa becoming the largest CO2 emitter on the African continent. In addition, the extraction of these fossils fuels has resulted in the development of mine waters that pollute natural water, flora and faunal systems on the surface. Moreover, the processing of raw mining products contributes toward the deterioration of the air quality. SHIFT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

South Africa has affirmed its stance towards attaining sustainable development. It has stipulated these goals in the country’s National Development Plan (2030). Herein, South Africa aims to reduce negative impacts on the environment and shift to a lowcarbon economy. It aims to do this through the implementation of novel technologies. This includes a wide range of renewable and alternative sources of energy, and the development of novel circular-economy technologies to reduce the waste associated to mining products.

Enabling such a shift from deeply entrenched practises requires a knowledge-driven approach. Key to this approach is understanding the fundamental geosciences of the Earth and the specific zone where anthropogenic interaction links with the environment. Understanding the geology of this zone will

A geoscience map for the Orange River Pegmatite Belt.

assist in understanding how fluids and other processes interact with the natural environment. Currently, an extensive geological understanding of South Africa is limited.

INTEGRATED GEOSCIENCE MAPPING

The Council for Geoscience is a South African scientific council, mandated to undertake high-resolution integrated geoscience mapping of South Africa, and to use this information to enable the crucial developmental imperatives of the country. To attain this target, the Council for Geoscience has embarked on a programme to generate and publish 1:50 000 integrated geoscience maps across the country. Key thematic areas include understanding how different rock types control various natural processes and how different types of structures enable the movement of natural fluids on the Earth’s surface and subsurface.

Since the inception of this programme in 2018, the Council for Geoscience has increased South Africa’s 1:50 000 geological coverage from under 4% to 10%. Importantly, target regions selected for geoscience mapping are closely aligned with South Africa’s developmental imperatives.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ENERGY

South Africa has targeted the reduction of CO2 by 50% in the next 10 years. Due to the heavy reliance on fossil fuels, this shift will not happen overnight. Instead, this will require a just transition. This implies that the country’s climate change mitigation scenario planning must be met and not have a negative impact on South Africa’s energy security. CO2 emissions must be directly combatted. Added to that, new energy technologies, such as renewables, need a wide range of critical minerals. To extract these efficiently and sustainably will require an in-depth understanding of the controlling and underlying geology.

CARBON CAPTURE, UTILISATION AND STORAGE

Detailed integrated geoscience mapping around South Africa’s coalfields has highlighted reservoirs that may support the safe and permanent storage of anthropogenic CO2. This implies that CO2 may be captured at their source, transported and permanently stored in these geological reservoirs, therefore mitigating the release of the CO2 to the atmosphere. Moreover, the captured CO2 may be used for several applications. This includes various petrochemical processes, the development of polymers and the remediation of harmful mine waters.

FUTURE MINING

Integrated geoscience mapping also assists in defining and characterising new critical mineral systems. This includes various battery storage minerals, such as lithium, copper, cobalt vanadium; and various electro voltaic minerals, for example, the platinum group of metals and rare earth elements. Importantly, the geological characteristics of these mineral systems are being considered closely with the environment they are located. This is toward establishing sustainable and coexistence mechanisms that can be employed in future mining practises.

South Africa will now aim to effect change based on the geoscience knowledge developed to date. Additional industries must also be considered, including mineral beneficiation and mechanisms to enable coexistence and long-term planning for lands where mining practices are completed. Further highresolution geoscience information and knowledge will also form a key component to support the requisite policy development.