For residents of Johannesburg or Witbank, the most visible legacy of 100 years of mining is not the country’s well-developed engineering and financial services sectors. It is tainted water sources and dust blowing off old mine dumps. As time passes, the damage mining has caused to the environment becomes more apparent.
See http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=167493.
[Among UK-listed mining companies historically active in South Africa are Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti.]