Open Days at Pilot Plants

Watermark Global PLC
17 April 2008




                                  Announcement

            Watermark Global plc announces OPEN DAYS at Pilot Plants


Attached to this announcement is a media release which was released today by WUC
(a wholly owned subsidiary of Watermark Global Plc) in relation to the three
Open Days being sponsored by WUC to inform government, regulators, mining
companies, media and other interest groups about the water treatment projects
being undertaken by WUC.



For further information contact:

Jaco Schoeman
Managing Director
Western Utilities Corporation
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]


PRESS RELEASE

MEETING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTION


17th April 2008

As a result of more than a century of mining activity, an extraordinary
environmental challenge has arisen in the Witwatersrand's Western  Basin - and
the industry players  drawn into it have come together to develop an effective,
sustainable solution.

Jaco Schoeman, the CEO of the Western Utilities Corporation (WUC) explains, '
South Africa is a water-scarce country where potable (ie drinkable) water
supplies are limited in certain areas and significant quantities of contaminated
water in others.'

'The environmental challenge is twofold.  First, how to overcome the
contamination of potable water sources inadvertently caused by decades of gold
mining activity; and second, how to satisfy the ever increasing demand for
greater volumes of potable and 'grey' (ie industrial quality) water by industry
and the surrounding communities.'

In the past decade - while demand on domestic, agricultural and industrial water
resources across the country has steadily increased - availability has been
compromised by the fact that potable water sources in the Witwatersrand Basin
are threatened by contamination from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD).

(AMD is a sulphuric acid solution that is generated when exposed ore comes into
contact with water and air.  In this case, mining operations

across the Witwatersrand complex, created underground voids that subsequently
filled with natural seeping water and began to discharge into the surrounding
water courses.)


The Western Basin Decant

Currently discharging at an annualised average rate of 15 Megalitres per day,
it's a situation that poses a severe environmental threat. Not only to water
resources and the fast-growing domestic and commercial populations that depend
upon them, but also to one of the world's most historically important and
environmentally-sensitive sites - the Sterkfontein Caves.

Unless the seepage is effectively addressed, the potential exists for this
contaminated water to enter, and irreversibly damage, the caves - which form
part of the 3.5 million year old Cradle of Humankind - and the nearby
Krugersdorp Nature Reserve.

'It is an irony,' says Schoeman, 'that the gold mining industry, that has made
such a significant, and positive, contribution to South Africa's economy in the
past century, should be at the centre of an issue which has such potentially
detrimental consequences for one of the regions in which it has been most
active.'

The South African government places the onus for redressing the problem squarely
on the mining industry and the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF) has
issued a directive that no mining house will be permitted to proceed with the
formal closure of  any operations in the area until the issues surrounding the
affected water have been satisfactorily addressed.

Although several of the key mining players in the region closed their operations
before the problem became apparent, it's a responsibility the broader industry
acknowledges.  'Those of us still involved in mining on the Reef accept that we
have a moral imperative to resolve the water problems and, together, have
innovated a solution that has the potential to overcome the twin challenges of
contamination and burgeoning demand simultaneously,' says Schoeman.

As an interim measure (to demonstrate corporate responsibility), the majority of
contaminants are being removed by neutralising and clarifying the water at
existing water treatment plants at Mogale Gold Mine and Harmony Gold Mine.

However, to fully address the problem, a Section 21 not-for-profit organisation
has been jointly established by Randfontein Estates Gold Mines Ltd (owned by
Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd), West Wits Gold Mines (owned by DRDGold) and
Mogale Gold Mines Ltd (owned by Mintails RSA (Pty) Ltd).

'Known as the Western Basin Environmental Corporation (WBEC), its function is to
govern the process of environmental water rehabilitation associated with AMD,'
says Schoeman, 'and to investigate and develop sustainable initiatives in close
consultation with the relevant government authorities.'


WBEC's imperatives are to:

• Rehabilitate the contaminated water that is already decanting from the
  underground voids of the Western Basin;

• Minimise further contamination of potable water sources;

• Preserve the Sterkfontein Caves by mitigating the risk of exposure to AMD;

• Reduce off-take of potable water sources by industrial users by making
  an alternative available in its place

• Minimise the transmission of AMD to sensitive downstream areas (ie the
  Cradle of Humankind) by reducing the water level in the underground voids


WBEC has been granted the right to register as a Water Services Provider (WSP),
which entitles it to remove the water associated with its own mines, treat it to
a specified quality and to on-sell it to the industrial market.

'It is important to stress,' says Schoeman, 'that although none of the mining
houses involved in WBEC will profit financially from the treatment and selling
of AMD, all will ultimately benefit from its success by being able to implement
closure strategies for their mining operations.'

To implement and manage this self-sustaining process, WBEC has entered into a
management agreement with the Western Utilities Corporation (WUC) which will
construct a state-of-the-art Water Treatment Plant capable of processing 75
Megalitres of Acid Mine


Drainage (AMD) per day to industrial ('grey water') quality.

'The plant will make use of a chemical precipitation treatment process that has
the capability to remove heavy metals and sulphates from the contaminated water,
' says Schoeman.  'It also uses a pyrometal-lurgical methodology - developed by
South Africa's Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) - to convert
various by-products back into raw materials which can be sold or
reused to reduce processing costs.'

The ultimate aim is to create a Zero Effluent Discharge plant and, to
demonstrate the viability of the technologies available, WUC has built three
pilot plants at one of the old mining shafts from which AMD is currently being
pumped.  These are:


  • The SAVMIN Plant (operational since 5 April 2008) uses the SAVMIN
    methodology (patented by Mintek and operated by Atomaer RSA (Pty) Ltd) to
    treat 4 cubic metres of AMD per hour to 'industrial' quality standards

  • The Gypslim Plant (operational since 5 March 2008) which uses the Gypslim
    process (patented, designed and operated by the CSIR) to produce 'Industrial
    ' quality water at a processing rate of one cubic metre per hour

  • The By-Product Recovery Plant (operational since 10 March 2008 and
    designed, engineered and operated by the CSIR, Key Structure Holdings and
    Sulphidetech) which processes and isolates by-products produced by the
    SAVMIN and Gypslim water treatment processes.


'Of course, development of the envisaged Water Treatment Plant will inevitably
hinge on the findings of an Environmental Impact Assessment,' says Schoeman.  '
In advance of that, WUC has commissioned consultants Golder & Associates to
determine how the water, once treated, can be redistributed to industrial users
as far north as Rustenburg and as far south as Vanderbijlpark - as well as
identifying the optimum location for the eventual construction of the Water
Treatment Plant.

However, the key to the success - and sustainability - of this solution rests on
the plant's ability to produce water of a suitable quality at a cost-effective
price for on-selling to high-volume industrial users (e.g. nearby Platinum mines
with major expansion strategies).

Another sustainable benefit of using rehabilitated water to meet industrial
demand, is the positive impact it will have on availability of potable water for
the surrounding communities, as pressure on potable resources will be
significantly reduced.

'This is a bold and creative response to a serious environmental challenge,'
says Schoeman, 'and we are confident that not only can WBEC/WUC provide a
sustainable solution to the issue of contaminated water in the Western Basin -
but that the same solution can be rolled-

out elsewhere, in South Africa and around the world, to effectively overcome the
damage inadvertently caused by mining activity.'

It is, in fact, already being considered as a viable option for water sources in
the Central and Eastern Basin - and possibly as far as the Far Western Basin -
which will have the potential to provide closure strategies for a significant
number of the mines across the Witwatersrand Basin region.


ABOUT WESTERN UTILITIES CORPORATION (WUC)

WUC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Watermark Global plc, listed on the United
Kingdom's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), and was  formed to implement a
commercially self-sustainable solution on behalf of WBEC.


ABOUT WESTERN BASIN ENVIRONMENTAL CORPORATION (WBEC)

WBEC is a Section 21 Company, formed by Randfontein Estates Gold Mines Limited
(owned by Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd), West Wits Gold Mines (owned by
DRDGold) and Mogale Gold Mines Limited (owned by Mintails RSA (Pty) Ltd).  Its
function is to govern the process of environmental water rehabilitation
associated with AMD in the Western Basin.


BACKGROUND

From the time South Africa's rich ore deposits were first discovered by George
Harrison in 1886, mining exploration in Johannesburg burgeoned.  The seam along
the North-West of Johannesburg proved particularly lucrative and was mined
unrestrainedly until the early 1990's.

By the time environmental regulations were introduced (National Water Act, 1956
and Fanie Botha Accord, 1970), the negative impacts were already being felt.
This has become increasingly evident in the last decade as underground voids
created by mining of the Witwatersrand orebody (specifically the Western Basin
Void) have filled with water and begun to discharge into the surrounding water
courses at an annualised average rate of 15 Megalitres per day.

Many of the mining houses active in the West Rand over the last 100 years have
ceased operations - or no longer exist - thus the onus for finding an effective
and sustainable solution to this significant environmental challenge now rests
with the few players who continue to have active interests in the area.

These include MinTails (through its operating subsidiary, Mogale Gold Mine);
Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd (through its operating subsidiary, Randfontein
Estates Ltd; and Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD), whose operations are dormant,
though technically active, at West Wits Gold Mine.

Aside from the moral imperative to address the seepage problem, the three
remaining players are required to do so by South Africa's National Water Act
which stipulates that 'the polluter pays'.

In terms of this, the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF) has issued a
directive that no mining house will be permitted to close any further operations
in the area until the affected water has been satisfactorily rehabilitated.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange