Inter-disciplinary studies of the impact of gold and uranium mining in the Witwatersrand Goldfield

Over the past century, large amounts of gold and uranium have been extracted from sediments of the Witwatersrand Supergroup. Mining activities cover a strike length of more than 300km and the resulting tailings now cover more than 400km2. In recent years mining activity has declined, with a number of mines closing or scaling down their operations. Furthermore, large areas of the goldfields have been abandoned for many decades, with little or no remediation having been undertaken. We have shown that a combination of airborne geophysics, remote sensing and GIS data integration provides valuable tools for coping with the large scale of the problem.