The first project for Selectra is to remediate and also produce energy on land that has been altered by gold mining in South Africa. Mining is a very large industry in Africa, and there are numerous large tracts of mine affected lands. For example, gold mining produces large amounts of ore from which the gold has been extracted. There are thousands of hectares of these "mine dumps" or more correctly stated, slimes dams and mine tailings (the footprint that remains after a slimes dam has been removed for further processing).
The slimes dams are composed primarily of crushed rock that has been processed to remove the gold. It is not suitable soil and has minimal organic matter. There are traces of chemicals and contaminants from the gold processing. The mining companies are responsible for ensuring that these contaminants do not enter into the groundwater or are transported outside the dam itself by wind or erosion. They must maintain these slimes dams indefinitely until they are no longer a hazard.
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