M.Sc. / The Mining of sand in South Africa is rapidly growing to sustain an increasing demand of sand for building purposes. Although mining of sand is regulated by environmental legislation, such as the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998, previous poor mining practices have left areas of land degraded and vulnerable to erosion. These areas need to be rehabilitated by restoring the vegetation and habitats to a natural state. This study was conducted in the Seringveld Conservancy, where the mining of sand has left the landscape with a degraded and unsightly appearance, and where little rehabilitation of the original vegetation has taken place. The aim of the study was to develop rehabilitation techniques for the degraded mined soils and to develop an overall strategy of revegetation by regenerating key plant species. Techniques for regenerating indigenous tree species cover, using modified mined sludge if topsoil is not available, were used to develop a practical and cost effective strategy to be used in revegetation. A comparative trial was used to cultivate indigenous tree species in different soil mixtures. Monitoring was done weekly to determine the growth performance and to ascertain which plant species would be most suitable and easy to cultivate. The study is important as it provides new information on the rehabilitation and revegetation of sand mined areas in the Seringveld Conservancy. This study will determine if alternatives could be used to replace topsoil on mined areas where none is available. The study is needed to determine whether revegetation of the mined areas would be possible using indigenous plant species that are often difficult to grow. The overall results indicate that replacing topsoil was successful for various modified soil mixtures that could sustain the growth of indigenous vegetation on the sand mines. Different indigenous tree species require different modified soil mixtures for successful propagation. A revegetation strategy was developed to complement and enable the rehabilitation of the mined in the Seringveld Conservancy. The revegetation initiative will benefit the restructuring of the degraded mined areas in the Seringveld Conservancy and will provide a benchmark for revegetation efforts in future in similar sand mining areas.

River sand mining from the Maha Oya is the main source of income and a force that drives economic activity for residents along the river. This study takes place in Sri Lanka, there are three villages included in this project: Jambugaswatte, Janituspuraya and Thoppuwa. In Sri Lanka, sand serves as the main building material. It is used to make bricks, tiles, asphalt and concrete, therefore demanding a high market value. However, the over-extraction of sand comes along with significant environmental problems. These communities depend on the river in many ways and the health of the river directly corresponds to the health of the ecosystem as a whole. Along the Maha Oya two important elements of survival are in conflict with one another: residents simultaneously need a healthy, thriving ecosystem to live in, as well as economic opportunities. With support from the Environmental Foundation Ltd. (EFL)--a Sri Lankan environmental justice NGO--this study focuses on the complex situation with sand mining on the Maha Oya. Data for this study comes from fifteen formal interviews with a Sinhala-English translator. These interviews are used to address the two research questions for this project: how do village residents along the Maha Oya perceive sand mining? And what are the emotional, practical and theoretical responses of village residents to the effects of sand mining on their local ecosystems? In order to envision a sustainable future, it is vital to begin with a clear understanding of community perceptions of these complex issues, which are at the heart of this project.

Thesis (M. Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Sand mining has grown popular in South African rural communities due to its increasing demand for building purposes in and around the surrounding villages as well as a source of income to the rural communities. Sand is an indispensable natural resource of any society around the world. For instance, the government has to deal with the frequent sand mining environmental effects and implement various strategies on how to deal with these effects to protect the environment. Although the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) 107 of 1998 regulates sand mining, the illegal and unregulated rural sand mining is causing land degradation, creating unpleasant appearances, causing vulnerability to floods and pointing out the need for rehabilitation. Given the circumstances surrounding the issue of illegal sand mining in rural communities, this research is aimed at investigating the impact of illegal or legal sand mining on the environment looking at the land degradation and the importance of rehabilitating the area after use in Mentz village. The main objective of this research was to explore how sand mining causes land degradation and examining the significance of rehabilitation in sand mining. The methodology of the study was carried out using both quantitative and qualitative research design in a form of questionnaire surveys, oral interviews and field observations to collect the data. The sample was composed of the general members of the community, the chief and the sand miners. For data analysis, the study used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The results indicated that sand mining causes 54.76% of the land degradation in South Africa. Furthermore, the research revealed that 30.95% of the land degradation was due to deforestation and 11.90% of Mentz land degradation was caused by overgrazing. Besides, an overwhelming 76.58% of the respondents agreed that land should be rehabilitated after sand mining processes.

MENVSC / Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences

This study aimed to evaluate the ecological impacts of sand mining on the Mokolo River, in Lephalale. The study focused on the water quality, macroinvertebrates and physical disturbances as indicators in order to determine the ecological im-pacts of sand mining on the Mokolo River. The water quality variables, which this study entailed, were related to sand mining and other sources of pollution such as coal mining, power station industries, agriculture and wastewater treatment works on the Mokolo River. The water quality results for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total alkalinity (CaCO3), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), chloride (Cl), fluoride (F), sulphate (SO4) and nitrate (NO3-N) were not over the limits, however turbidity, total coliforms and E. coli were over the limits as per the Target Water Quality Guideline (TWQG). The River Health Programme (RHP) was done at upstream, sand mining and downstream areas in the Mokolo River using the South African Scoring System Version 5 (SASS5). The ecological status at the upstream and downstream areas changed from class C (March 2018) to class B (November 2018), indicating that the ecological status improved in those areas of the Mokolo River. However, at the sand mining area the ecological status has not improved and it was seriously modified due to the physical disturbance as a result of sand mining. Ecological impacts, such as the removal of marginal and riparian vegetation, erosion, disturbed riverbed, undercutting and collapse of riverbanks, loss of adjacent land, river deepened, river widened, water pools, in stream sand stockpiles and river diversions, were determined at the sand mining area. No physical disturbances at the upstream and downstream areas were determined. The findings of this study indicate that the ecological impacts of change in water quality at the upstream and downstream areas was due to high turbidity, Total coli-forms and E. coli. The absence of sensitive macroinvertebrates and loss of ma-croinvertebrates and the physical disturbances within the Mokolo River was be-cause of sand mining. The study indicates that sand mining has negative impacts on the water quality, water quantity, macroinvertebrates and physical characteris-tics of the Mokolo River. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)