gold mining

The occurrence of groundwater around a mined-out open pit, connected to an active underground working is not completely understood, but it is fascinating. It has been established that gold mineralisation in study area was structurally controlled. The geomorphology of the local drainage system is highly controlled by the fold or fault architecture. Surface water flowed through, and eroded open fractures in exposed damaged zones (zone of subsidiary structures surrounding a fault).

POSTER The Evander Goldfield basin has been mined since the early 1950s at depths between 400 and 2 000 m below ground and is detached from the larger Witwatersrand basin. The assessment and prediction of mine water rebound has become increasingly important for the gold mining industry in the Witwatersrand basin as more mine shafts mothballs and dewatering ceases.

The occurrence of groundwater around a mined-out open pit, connected to an active underground working is not completely understood, but it is fascinating. It has been established that gold mineralisation in study area was structurally controlled. The geomorphology of the local drainage system is highly controlled by the fold or fault architecture. Surface water flowed through, and eroded open fractures in exposed damaged zones (zone of subsidiary structures surrounding a fault).

The assessment and prediction of mine water rebound has become increasingly important for the gold mining industry in the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa. The cessation of dewatering lead to large volumes of contaminated surface discharges in the western parts of the basin. Towards the eastern extremity of the Witwatersrand basin the detached Evander Goldfield basin has been mined since the early 1950s at depths between 400 and 2000 metres below ground, while overlain by shallower coal mining operations.

Gold mineralization in study area is structurally controlled. The geomorphology of the local drainage system is highly controlled by the fault architecture. Surface water flowed through, and eroded open fractures in exposed damaged zones (zone of subsidiary structures surrounding a fault). Previous conceptual hydrogeological models of groundwater system suggested is a two-aquifer system, consisting of a fractured aquifer overlain by a weathered aquifer, where groundwater flow mimics surface topography.