About Us

This project, led by researchers from the universities of Pretoria, Southampton and Cape Town, began in February 2019, with the aim to catalogue mine tailings suitable for potential CO₂ sequestration schemes across South Africa. 

Weathering of rocks at the Earth’s surface is a natural process that converts atmospheric CO₂ into carbonate minerals or alkalinity, occurring over a geological timescale. Speeding up this process through geoengineered methods represents a meaningful approach to CO­₂ removal on human timescales. 

Due to their favourable physical and chemical properties and worldwide abundance, mafic and ultramafic mine wastes are highly reactive with atmospheric CO₂, and are therefore subject to much study and assessment. The high metal and precious stone mining activities and tailings production in South Africa make this an ideal country to spearhead geoengineered processes to capture CO₂ at mine sites. The aim of this proposed research is to identify and catalogue the potential of mine tailings for CO₂ sequestration in the South African mining sector.

Data compilation will include the mapped and calculated volumes of targeted tailing deposits for suitable (mafic and ultramafic-hosting) mine sites and production systems, and the calculated volume of CO₂ that could be captured for sites, regions and the country as a whole.

The database, GIS resources and evaluations published from this study will be used by scientific researchers and industrial projects to identify favourable sites for maximum sequestration potential. This may also lead to pilot studies or implementation of large-scale CO₂ sequestration projects at South African mine sites. The project will aid current and future decision making and policy development regarding tailing treatment and carbon footprint of the mining industry of South Africa.