Rehabilitation

Mine rehabilitation is the process that mines undertake to repair the environmental damage caused by mining activities. South Deep has prioritised and builds progressive rehabilitation processes into its business plan.

South Deep makes use of a backfill process, which involves returning a portion of the mine waste that was extracted during processing as backfill material that can be used in underground sections of the mine to fill mined voids. This process reduces the requirement for surface storage of these taillings, and also has the safety benefit of providing reinforcement that makes rock bursts and roof falls less likely.