Communities living near abandoned and unrehabilitated mines often carry the consequences long after mining companies had left.
Children have died in contaminated open pits at abandoned coal mines in Mpumalanga as South Africa’s mine closure crisis deepens, a new Centre for Environmental Rights report alleges.
The report warns that thousands of derelict mines continue to leave communities exposed to environmental, economic and health risks years after mining operations stop.
"Dangerous, contaminated open pits at the abandoned Imbabala site have led to the deaths of children," report author Tarisai Mugunyani stated.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its 2022 report The Forever Mines: Perpetual Rights Risks from Unrehabilitated Coal Mines in South Africa, documented these deaths in what it described as a turning point for two families in Ermelo.
