South Africa is a country rich in minerals, and has developed into one of the leading countries in the world in the field of mining technology. Mines of almost all types are found spread across the country and these have a profound impact on the environment. For this reason, mining has become a furiously debated environmental issue, and measures to minimise the impacts of mining on the environment, are continually being revised, improved and made more stringent.

Total mining activity per magisterial district is expressed as a mining intensity index, based on a calculation of the average number of mines per square kilometer, rated according to a user-defined scale. Entire magisterial districts are shown as shaded in a particular colour according to the mining intensity index of the district. The Cape Peninsula, for example, has a fairly high mining intensity index. This is not the result of widespread mining activity, but rather due to a few mines concentrated into a single magisterial district covering a relatively small surface area.