Regenerating disused African mine site with pongamia

 

February 2017

 

For the first time, elite Pongamia pinnata will be planted in Sub-Saharan Africa to bring life to a post-mining landscape in Zambia. Copper tailings are produced after copper bearing rocks are crushed and leached with sulphuric acid. The copper concentrate is removed and the resulting sediments are pumped into a tailings storage facility. These are then reprocessed to remove any remaining copper, and the storage facility is left abandoned, ready for rehabilitation.

 

Phyla Zambia has a unique strategy to revegetation that makes good environmental sense, but also good economic sense. Our approach creates a whole new post-mining economy and jobs that last beyond the revegetation activities.  In addition to rehabilitating disused sites with pongamia, Phyla’s methods cultivate use of the tree for the production of bioenergy, bio-pesticides, high value bio-pharmaceuticals, organic fertilisers and animal feeds.

 

For the first time, women from the local community have hope for a future of stable employment in a healthy environment. The new skills they have learned, planting and caring for the new saplings, will be of considerable value as we seek to scale our ecosystem regeneration activities to much larger areas.