Page 46 - SAICE book proof 2 LATEST JULY 2014

s a i c e
GAUTENG PROVINCE

dumps are causing substantial environmental nuisance. ◊ Below: South African Institution of Civil Engineering
Several interesting issues around the re-mining make it national office
a worthwhile visit – at least while the process is on-go- ◊ Below Centre: Engineering Council of South Africa
ing. The slimes are collapsed by means of high pressure ◊ Bottom: Ergo mining
water spouts and then pumped over a distance of about
30 km to the reclaiming facility at Springs on the East
Rand where the Ergo plant extracts the remaining gold.
From there the new residues are pumped over another
10 kilometres or so to massive new slimes dams. The
historical skyline of Johannesburg was dominated by
gold mine dumps as these were called, but is slowly but
surely changing as these “mountains of gold” as some
people called them, are reworked and removed.

26°08’30.04 S, 27°54’53.16” E

14. South African Institution of Civil Engi-
neering national office is situated in the Thornhill
Office Park in Midrand from where it serves its 10 000
members as at 2013. Although the Institution was es-
tablished in 1903 in Cape Town it became apparent that
it should be run from Johannesburg and over the years
it occupied various rented premises until it was time to
come home in 2005 to its own building known as SAICE
House.

26°00’43.89” S, 28°06’53.34” E 16. The Vaal River and its role as main supplier
of potable water to Gauteng.

15. The Engineering Council of South Africa
was first established by an Act of Parliament in 1969 • Vaal Barrage. This historic structure was the first
and in 1999 it took its present form. In 2013 it has had large structure built by Rand Water on the Vaal River.
about 45 000 registered person on its books. Its offices Completed in 1923 it was described as a veritable
are situated at Waterview Corner office park at Bruma monument of engineering skill at the time. It was
lake Johannesburg. built under difficult circumstances due to continuous
flooding. Rand Water was established in 1903 and
provides water to approximately 11 million people
26°10’54.83” S, 28°06’20.32” E and numerous industrial users.

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