INTERVIEW The hyperspectral core scanner in use at the Council for Geoscience National Core Library. making this financially viable so it is important to mention that these areas are below the current coal fields. You would not need to transport the CO2 very far to be stored. The type of storage is quite critical. At a depth of about 1km you find saline aquifers. That holds the type of water that you can’t necessarily use for anything. If you pump the CO2 into that salty water, the CO2 slowly reacts with the salt in the water but it can take up to thousands of years before the CO2 becomes immobile. However, if you store the CO2 in the type of rocks that we are looking at, that reaction can theoretically happen much quicker. The sooner you convert the gaseous CO2 into a solid CO2, the sooner it is rendered immobile. Then it cannot move around and get back into the atmosphere. What effect would these processes have on the environment? A lot of our work so far has been specifically on environmental monitoring. This is a critical point. Before we actually develop this technology, we are doing a significant amount of environmental research to make sure that we can understand the baseline environmental conditions on the ground. We want to get a footprint of the area – the flora, the fauna, the chemistry of the groundwater, the amount of groundwater there is – all of that information. Are CGS staff excited about the CCUS project? Yes. It is a very big project. The principle is that it’s a challenge. There are a lot of different opinions around the transition. Some say we are not moving fast enough. Others say we are moving too fast. This is the nice thing about being pragmatic – a fundamental scientist if you like – being practical and finding solutions that will be sustainable. Our technology for renewables is still developing; we are not there entirely yet. It’s a big challenge and we need to buy ourselves some time. For the first time in a long time, the issue is being looked at directly by scientists, not necessarily only by policymakers. We have to guide them, we need to show what is possible, scientifically and empirically. How do you present empirical data that has passed peer review? That is the principle that we are focusing on. The carbon capture project is a large, integrated project. The project is funded both by the South African Government and the World Bank and the entire project budget is about -million. MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2023/24 46
INTERVIEW We have to be very unbiased in terms of the type of research we do. We will be doing full Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) before we do any type of sub-surface investigation. Our data portal is available to the public online. At the CGS you will find somebody who is working on hydrogeology, while another person is an environmental geologist, who might be interested in what this is going to do for the environment. What is the nature of new mapping CGS is doing? The first thing to touch on is that what we are doing is very much geoscientific mapping, not just geological. The second thing is that the scale is very important. We have generally mapped to a scale of 1:250 000, so that means if a hill is less than 250 metres, it will not appear on the geological map. We have shifted to the 1:50 000 scale. South Africa was only covered to 4% in terms of 1:50 000-scale maps. After about five years, we are now moving up to a figure of 12%. People often think that mapping is for minerals only. What other functions does it have? We have not exclusively focused on minerals. We’ve been able to identify certain zones and certain geological features where specific types of geohazards are concentrated. We are researching that further to mitigate possible natural disasters or loss of human life. The recent landslides in KwaZulu-Natal are an example. Many of the landslides are due to specific geomorphology and geological controls. If we don’t have the map resolution required, we can’t necessarily create the necessary mitigation scenarios. The same is true in Gauteng. A large portion of Gauteng is built on dolomite, the type of rock that forms sinkholes. The state spends a lot of money on infrastructural development and the risks can be mitigated if we understand the geology. There are many areas in the country where the dams are not efficient in supporting farming, so we look at groundwater resources. To understand those resources, you need to understand the geology of very specific structures, essentially pathways that allow the water to flow. The other aspect that is not necessarily being considered is the surface of the earth. This is where all of our food comes from. In areas where we want agricultural sustainability, you need to understand the geology of those areas. Similarly, you cannot build a large solar plant on soil that might sustain agriculture. We want to avoid sterilising the ground and ruling out the possibilities of groundwater or minerals. Tell us more about groundwater. We have been very successful in identifying significant groundwater resources, especially in the Karoo. We have been able to find, test and research many groundwater aquifers that can sustain groundwater resources in those areas. And what are the new maps showing in terms of mineral resources? We have focused on specific areas where we anticipate there to be some investment in exploration. Some of the mineral resources we are also looking at in terms of our developmental needs. We have to look for the type of minerals needed to sustain renewable energy, including batteries. A number of mineral resources can support battery development. Specifically, mobile devices have lithium ion batteries and some of our mapping has discovered that South Africa has quite a significant quantity of lithium that can possibly be extracted and researched. Where is lithium found? It is mostly in the Northern Cape and it is also found in KwaZulu-Natal. We also found lots of vanadium, which is a critical metal needed for larger-format batteries. So mapping goes far beyond mining, it’s vital to every aspect of the economy. Development hinges on earth science. We need to understand the earth. When we map, we try as hard as possible to look as deep as possible. Humans generally interact with the top five kilometres of the earth. We have gold mines that touch four kilometres. If you go to any province the geology you see just below your feet is not necessarily the geology that you will see at a kilometre below your feet. The Karoo might be dry but if you had to go down several hundred meters you would find significant natural resources to sustain socioeconomic development, such as water and minerals. ■ 47 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2023/24
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