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Water is a scarce resource in the drylands of Africa and the Middle East and the identification of risks to aquifers is an important endeavor. There is a common and erroneous belief that only gold and coal deposits in Southern Africa are associated with acid-generating minerals. The study highlights the application the tools of geochemical analysis can reveal the classes of chemical reactions leading to the evolution of a shallow aquifer in an arid zone with active mining of sulfidic ore taking place. The prevailing hydro-geochemical processes were assessed at an open cast platinum mine. Major conclusions relate to the Acid Mine Drainage buffering within fractured aquifer system associated with the platinum deposit. The oxidation of pyrrhotite from in situ sources is the major contributing factor towards AMD formation. Neutralization of acid in the groundwater system has solved the pH problem but introduced a salinity problem. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.