New Accountability Approach: Utilising Dynamic Zero-Waste Baselines to Mitigate Water Wastage in Gold Mines

Abstract

The South African gold mining industry requires complex water reticulation systems to deliver chilled water to underground production areas. However, chilled- and service-water wastage, including leaks and misuse, contribute to approximately 50% of the total chilled-water demand. The current inefficiency detection methods rely on broad, infrequent, and labour-intensive work, focusing only on identifying and quantifying wastages without comprehensive mitigation strategies. This study aimed to develop a novel accountability framework employing dynamic zero-waste baselines to identify and address inefficiencies closer to active working areas. The proposed method incorporates four key components—define, assess, execute, and communicate—into an accountability system to monitor performance and ensure sustainable improvements. The integration of dynamic zero-waste baselines within this accountability framework will ensure faster and more accurate inefficiency detection and, more importantly, the mitigation thereof, significantly reducing water wastage. This study successfully reduced the daily water wastage, with an annual energy cost benefit of approximately USD 1.6 million (ZAR 28.7 million). The successful implementation of this method met all the research objectives, confirming its effectiveness.