South Africa will spend 1.2 billion rand to clean up the acidic water that threatens to spill out of gold mines near Johannesburg. The network of abandoned mines that surrounds and underlies Johannesburg stretches for miles, and the mix of chemicals filling the flooded tunnels will affect the country for years, according to a report released by the Department of Water Affairs. Water flooding the tunnels has reacted with billion-year-old rocks to produce heavy metals, sulfuric acid, and radiation. Most of the money slated for dealing with the cleanup is for long-term expenses related to keeping water from flowing into underground cavities, and over 400 million rand are set to cover capital expenditures to begin building a series of pumping, treatment, and monitoring stations starting immediately with pumps in place under Johannesburg by March 2012. The government will try to reclaim costs from profit-making mines. For the full story, see http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/us-safrica-mining-acid-idUSTRE71N2LI20110224 and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/south-africa-approves-plan-to-combat-acid-water-drainage-from-gold-mines.html, in addition to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12573284. For the Department of Water Affairs, see http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Documents/ACIDReport.pdf.