(NYT32) JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- May 9, 2004 -- SAFRICA-GOLD-2 -- A mine worker mans a high pressure hose which is used to break down a mine dump on the outskirts of Johannesburg, March 8, 2004. Erasing Johannesburg's storied gold-mine dumps is a decades-long job. Many will be delighted to see them go. Over the decades, the dumps have been both blights and hazards, so laden with heavy metals that few plants can survive on them; so unstable that dry winter winds can bathe the city in toxic dust clouds; so perilous that children periodically vanish in slides and cave-ins. (Joao Silva/The New York Times)