Where AMD meets Karst, and Humans theorise (speculate?) whilst Nature acts
The karst aquifer downstream of the actively decanting West Rand Gold Field (a.k.a. the Western Basin) has for decades been receiving mine water discharge. Evidence of a mine water impact in the Bloubank Spruit catchment can be traced back to the early-1980s, and is attributed to the pumping out of so-called "fissure water" encountered during active underground mining operations for discharge on surface. Rewatering of the mine void following the cessation of subsurface mining activities in the late-1990s resulted in mine water decant in 2002.