Chairperson, we wish to congratulate the Council for Science and Industrial Research, an institution of the Department of Science and Technology, for developing an innovative technology that could potentially limit the impact of acid mine water in South Africa. The CSIR announced in January this year that it had developed a new process to reclaim high-quality precipitated calcium carbonate from calcium-rich industrial solid waste. High-quality calcium carbonate is useful for various specialised industrial applications such as gastric acid treatment, tablet filling in pharmaceuticals, plastics, paint, adhesives and pulp and papermaking. More importantly, this technology may offer a solution to acid mine water in Gauteng.
The research group is focused on recycling technologies that would make the extraction of effluent cost-effective. The method appears to be effective with stream water, although it is unlikely to be effective where groundwater is contaminated. This technology - for which the CSIR has filed a patent - can also be used as a waste management tool that can create new enterprises in the water management sector, providing job opportunities and simultaneously reducing the amount of solid waste that could impact negatively on the environment.