Uranium (U) measurements in water, soil, and food related to gold mining activities in populated areas in Gauteng Province, South Africa, suggest the possibility of exposure levels that may lead to adverse health consequences, including cancer. Theoretical considerations on pathways of human uptake of significant exposures are plausible, but few data on directly measured human exposure are available. A cross-sectional study was conducted using human measurements to compare U levels with other settings around the globe (based on literature review), to explore potential exposure variability within the province, and to test the feasibility of recruiting subjects partially coming from vulnerable and difficult-to-reach populations. Wards of potentially high (HE) and low exposure (LE) were identified. Composite hair samples representing the respective local populations were collected from regular customers of selected barber shops over a period of 1–2 months. A total of 70 U concentrations were determined in 27 composite samples from 1332 individuals. U concentrations ranged from 31 μg/kg to 2524 μg/kg, with an arithmetic mean of 192 μg/kg (standard deviation, 310 μg/kg) and a median of 122 μg/kg. Although HE wards collectively showed higher U levels than LE wards (184 vs 134 μg/kg), differences were smaller than expected. In conclusion, detected U levels were higher than those from most other surveys of the general public. The barber-based approach was an efficient hair collection approach. Composite hair samples are not recommended, due to technical challenges in measuring U, and individual hair samples are needed in follow-up studies to determine predictors of exposure.

The Rietspruit is located in Gauteng Province, South Africa, within the Witwatersrand Basin. The basin is noted for its vast gold deposit. The river extends for about 60 km before joining the Vaal River. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of uranium in the Rietspruit and the factors that influenced the concentration of U at each of the sites. The source of uranium in the river is the discharge from the gold mine and the mine wastes. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used for water and sediment analysis in order to determine the concentration of U. High concentration of U was found in the river water and sediment, which is above the permissible limit of U. The water is used for irrigation of farmlands, cattle watering and for human consumption despite the high concentration of uranium in it. Ingestion of uranium is dangerous to human health. Due to the toxic nature of uranium, consumption of the water for domestic use and agriculture purpose must be discouraged.

Through moving large volumes of rock for decades or even centuries from geological underground to surface, industrial scale mining invariably alters the natural local and regional hydrological conditions. Consequences include irreversible changes of flow gradients and water quality in aquifers and streams effected through dewatering, ground subsidence, acid mine drainage, etc. During their lifetime mines spent significant resources and energy on maintaining an ever-increasing diversion from natural hydraulic equilibria through pumping rising volumes of ingress water from ever greater depths, especially if operating below water-rich formations (karst) or in humid climates. Associated pumping costs may even lead to premature mine closure. In cases where complete flooding of closed mines is not an option (e.g. to protect water resources or infrastructure) such costs remain well after mines closed for as long as flooding restrictions apply. In large and densely populated regions in South Africa or Germany, for example, where mining succeeded in triggering urbanisation and self-sustaining economic development it is (currently) assumed that pumping will be needed forever. Accordingly, postclosure water management is no longer only a long-term liability but indeed a perpetual burden placed on future generations that had little direct benefits from earlier mining. This paper focuses specifically on possible ways of reducing perpetual postclosure water management costs specifically of using abandoned mines for generating and storing renewable energy. It discusses successful examples already implemented, concepts investigated but not yet realised as well as technologies that received little, if any, attention to date. The latter range from using mines (included flooded ones) for the storage of electrical energy via different technologies, harvesting geothermal energy from mine water and voids to different ways of transforming chemical energy contained in mine water into electricity.

Mining-related impacts on water are often more persistent, costly, and extensive than suggested by standard reporting practice which frequently omits the indirect impacts on third parties associated with mining-induced alterations to water flow and quality and rarely covers the associated economic knock-on effects (costs). Based on a literature review, this paper aims to identify and categorise such underreported impacts using 15 international case studies from nine countries covering surface and underground operations and a wide range of commodities. For each of the seven proposed water impact categories such as discharge of mine effluents, mine waste-related pollution, de- and rewatering, hydrological alterations, etc., corresponding case studies and associated key impact parameters are compiled. Linking mining-induced pollution to water quantity and costs is proposed as a potential means to curb the externalisation of costs. In addition to the literature data, original calculations are provided on how the creation of vast “lakescapes” in former lignite districts exacerbates water stress in two of Germany’s driest regions. The main objective is to strengthen the future licencing decisions of authorities and better anticipate mining-induced water impacts at a time when rising demand for energy transition metals intensifies the competition for limited water resources in many already water-stressed mining regions.

This article presents the findings of a comprehensive statistical analysis based on one of the largest and most up-to-date datasets on average monthly water temperatures at 286 hydrological stations from 1961 to 2021. Through this analysis, a detailed examination of the factors influencing temperature formation in different landscape-diverse regions in the Russian Arctic has been conducted. It has been determined that air temperature plays a crucial role in determining water temperature, although its influence is constrained by geographical factors, primarily geographical latitude. An analysis of discontinuities in uniformity and the presence of trends was carried out, along with a regression analysis of the relationships between air and water temperatures. The results of estimating changes in river water temperature were simultaneously compared both with respect to generally accepted climatic periods (1961–1990 and 1991–2020) and with respect to revealed change point years. The results of the statistical analysis indicate a relatively slow increase in water temperature in the Arctic rivers of Russia over the past 60 years, by 0.11–0.74 K/decade. These changes are mainly due to changes in air temperature (about 70% of cases), which in turn are influenced by the altitude of the location of the objects and other local factors.