Gabrielle Hecht, Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures. Durham NC: Duke University Press (hb US$104.95 – 978 1 4780 2028 8; pb US$27.95 – 978 1 4780 2494 1). 2023, ix + 269 pp.

Minerals have multiple uses. They are often connected to global commodity chains, traveling around the world several times. In contrast, mining waste rarely travels far, much like the dust that miners excavate and breathe underground. Often, these residues remain with the mining communities that contributed to their material production. And they accumulate in the environment and human bodies. The Rand mines in South Africa are estimated to have produced more than one third of all the gold ever extracted in the world. On average, it takes a ton of rock to extract 10 grams of gold. From this, one can easily understand the extent of waste production from South African mines, of their volumetric violence on humans and non-humans. The presence of radioactive and toxic materials within this waste also makes clear their long-term threat, first of all, for those who live around or even on top of them, but also for those who think they are distant and immune from this type of problem, who might be sitting comfortably in an urban house made of radioactive bricks.