Toxic mine liquids have long been an urgent problem in need of address in South Africa. Recognizing this, South Africa now plans to set up a chain of pumping stations and treatment plants so that the toxic liquids released from gold mines would not reach dangerous levels.

Such immediate actions are being made as a plan to combat the environmentally critical levels under Johannesburg by June 2012. As government officials and scientists have reported, the abandoned mines of west of Johannesburg is leaking in large, unforseen amounts.

Thibedi Ramontja, the chief executive officer of the Council of Geoscience said, "Work in the Western Basic is immediate." The dangerous chemicals that have been building up in mine shafts are now stretching under Johanneseburg. Also, the water accumulated in the shafts is triggering chemical reactions in rock formations that started approximately 2.8 billion years ago.
 
The central problem for Johannesburg lies in the location of the city which was originally built over the gold mines that will largely be affected by the accumulation of toxic liquids. As the water ministry officlas reported, "The toxic liquid is now about 500 meters below the surface in the Central Basin under Johannesburg and about 700 meters below the surface in the Eastern Basin"

However, the former finance minister claims that, "My understanding is that there is no one magical pump. There is a series of pumping activities that you need to do. You are talking of a distance of 200 kilometers (120 miles)." Though the government is seemingly talking to mining firms and the like in support of the project, the exact estimation is yet to be made.