Water treatment solutions at mines are central to safeguarding South Africa’s scarce water resources, and Nafasi Water aims to support mining houses with water management and reclamation solutions, investment in technologies, and circular solutions to mitigate the challenge of the increasing decant of polluted waters.

The company develops, finances, builds and operates critical water infrastructure on behalf of its clients, delivering long-term solutions for municipal, industrial and environmental needs.

“We can play a very pivotal role in bridging the gap between the mine, its environmental obligations and the public sector in terms of the management of water resources and integration for supply,” says Nafasi Water CEO Suzie Nkambule.

Historically, establishing efficient water treatment solutions at mines has faced numerous barriers, including the sector being a developing one in an economy where industries compete for skills – particularly engineers – as well as safety concerns, the complexity and high costs of operating these technically complex facilities.

Although mining companies are investing in water treatment projects, often surpassing their regulatory requirements, these initiatives still need to be more financially viable to attract sufficient funding.

To address this gap, Nafasi Water has moved into the investments realm to ensure that mining houses are supported with access to more concessionary climate resilience and green infrastructure capital.

Acid mine drainage is costly to treat, as it contains brine and heavy metals (among other contaminants) requiring specific technology to safely treat and discharge back into the environment. These are waste streams that need careful management, she explains.

“We are focused on developing technologies and the circular solutions for waste by- products to ensure that waste exposure and risk are not increased; beneficiation opportunities for by-products from the waste; and prioritising the reuse of mine water, either indirectly through irrigation and other types of river-based systems, or direct portable use within the municipalities in the area.”

Many mining houses are reviewing opportunities for environmental impact and social impacts, as well as to decentralise jobs outside of the mine – a strategy that aligns with the Just Energy Transition (JET) ecosystem.

“Groundwater pollution is a permanent problem for mining; it does not go away, so it becomes a very good transition economy for solutions to be built in,” she says, noting that, as mining, especially coal, scales back and ageing power plants need to be decommissioned, communities will face significant job losses.

In this context, water treatment and the beneficiation of by-products should be a core pillar of the JET.

Over the years, the company has invested heavily in research on technologies focusing on efficiency improvement, by-product beneficiation, as well as scaling these technologies – all of which allows projects to have multiple sources of revenue, rather than relying solely on tariff income from the water.

This, in turn, improves overall bankability, reduces the burden on the mining house, and makes the scalability of the solutions more viable.

Nafasi has an extensive, successful track record with the eMalahleni, Middelburg and Optimum water reclamation plants, besides many other projects.

Another project exemplifying how collaboration between a mining house and a water technology partner can turn an environmental challenge into a sustainable asset is a project being undertaken at Seriti Resources’ Arnot closed colliery near Middelburg, in Mpumalanga.

Entailing the financing, building and operation of a water treatment project at the mine, the project was launched by Nafasi Water and Seriti Resources in August this year. It is being undertaken through the ‘build-own-operate-maintain’ model and encompasses the complete lifecycle from design and construction to long-term operation and eventual decommissioning.

Following a 15-month build programme, the plant will be commissioned by the first quarter of 2027, when it will be fully completed, ready to operate for the next 15 years – a design life that can be extended if required.

While mining activities at Arnot ceased in 1992, the site continues to produce mining- impacted water, and existing on-site measures, such as evaporation, pumping and storage, are no longer sustainable or cost-effective, with storage exhausted.

The new facility will treat contaminated water to the required quality standard for potable consumption and discharge clean, compliant water into Bosmanspruit, part of the Olifants river catchment, in line with Seriti Resource’s water-use licence.

By discharging clean, treated water into the environment, this project will help restore downstream water quality, enhance water security for users, and contribute to the ecological health of the Olifants river catchment area.

This river catchment is one of South Africa’s most strategically important water systems, supporting communities, agriculture, industry and biodiversity across multiple provinces.

In addition to providing clean water, Nafasi works through its community development office, in collaboration with Seriti Resources and local communities, to deliver initiatives such as direct and indirect jobs during the construction and operation phases, as well as bursaries, learnerships, apprenticeships and skills training.

“We want the operators for the facility to be as closely related to the community as much as we can,” she comments.

Another direct benefit is improved agricultural yield, with quality water more stable and enabling better performance. The net result is better crop yields and lower fertiliser costs.