While many people complain that the emissions continue to cause damage to the health of people with respiratory problems and heart ailments, the vegetation appears to suffer the most.
The traces of the mine emissions in the atmosphere can be felt as far as Sese, a few kilometres away from Tonota. Around Selebi-Phikwe and surrounding areas, the negatives are evident on the vegetation especially in the area around Water Utilities along the road to BDF.
The vegetation whithers and wilts showing that it cannot withstand the amount of sulphur in the atmosphere.
On a bad day, the town is covered with a white cloud of smoke from the mine, prompting most people to stay indoors because the gas is just too uncomfortable to inhale.
The amounts differ from day to day. There are times when the atmosphere remains clear but people feel the sulphur in the air when they breathe. At times the amount is so high that the atmosphere would be covered with white smoke.
Exposure to sulphur causes throat irritation. Shortness of breath and induces coughing. It also exacerbates asthma, it is believed.
According to Malebogo Keitsile, who works near the industrial site, the area is badly affected because loads of the mine emissions go in that direction.
She said it really poses a health hazard because people cough uncontrollably and they are compelled to stay indoors.
Some people have been transferred out of town because their health was deteriorating as a result of the emissions. Mmadinare residents have also at some point raised concern at a kgotla meeting that their crops are affected by the emissions.
A report that was made by a prominent doctor indicated that the air contains many pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants.
The doctor said that it cannot be denied that BCL produces loads of sulphur dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.
He added that the effects of air pollution on health are bad but most often the negative effects of pollutants are either underrated or blown out of proportion. "The body is a clever engine that is constantly repairing and replacing dead cells. It is only when a certain threshold is reached that the body shows that it is strained and this is often forgotten when sulphur dioxide is talked about in Phikwe," says the doctor.
The doctor also said that the BCL environmental report for March 2006 revealed that the mine conforms to the Botswana government-set regulations, guided by the World Health Organization's acceptable limits of sulphur dioxide concentration in the air.
"There is so far no scientific evidence to suggest that stipulated levels have any marked effect on the long term health of the population. What is obvious however is that sulphur dioxide is a nuisance and people react differently to its regardless of levels. But policy cannot cover every individual eventuality," he said.
During the Environmental Day celebrations in Phikwe in June last year, Director of Environmental Affairs, Steve Monna stated that the BCL mine emissions are not harmful and are within the acceptable limits of concentration in the atmosphere. He said the smoke is not harmful to humans and it is within the WHO thresholds. Monna indicated that though there are concerns with regard to the effect on the vegetation which shows signs of stunted growth, due to inhibition of effective photosynthesis, there is no statistical evidence that people living in town are alarmingly at risk relative to those living elsewhere.
"The options are to make these trade-offs or to discontinue with the mining operations which earn the country foreign revenue in favour of other development programmes. An informed cost benefit analysis coupled with an environmental assessment would suggest a continuation with the operations on the understanding that the environmental and health impact are mitigatable," argues Monna.
The then General Mphathi reiterated the mine's commitment to reducing the pollution. He expressed pity that the impact of pollution is over exaggerated because it is only harmful at high concentration and it is not as a greenhouse gas.
