The rehabilitation of mined soil

By Oratilwe Kunene

Mining and agriculture have repeatedly come into conflict when they co-occur. Although benign when compared with surface mining, underground coal extraction techniques (including long wall mining) cause subsidence of agricultural land and loss of productivity. Excavation involved in mining destroys useful soil for farming activities. Mining activities reduced farmland through soil erosion problems, swampy nature of neglected mined excavation, mine dump and pits on the arable land.

This project aims to investigate the effect of mined soil on the ability to grow agriculture and find ways in which there can be growth in areas with mined soil and find the chemical composition of the soil which hinders the process of growing agriculture.

Project exhibition: