Supplied by Insight Terra
NEW TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFORMING MINE WATER SYSTEMS
By Sharon Mdaka
Why do strategic water treatment solutions for mines matter in 2026?
TECHNOLOGY •
Water management in the mining sector has transformed beyond compliance or operational necessity. It has evolved with technological integration. As a result, treatment systems, monitoring tools and data-driven decision-making tools must work hand in hand to deliver efficiency, reliability and sustainability.
With water availability rapidly declining and environmental scrutiny growing, there’ s pressure on mining operations to reduce water intake, improve reuse and ensure that water discharged or stored within tailings facilities meets stricter standards. This is driving a shift from isolated treatment processes to more connected, systemwide approaches.
At the treatment level, technologies such as dissolved air flotation( DAF) are gaining traction for their ability to address complex process water challenges. According to Tshepang Dolamo, Business Development and Industrial Solutions Engineer, Xylem, this system is designed to be compact, automated and adaptable to operational constraints. It comes readily available with a control panel, feed pumps, mixing tanks, dosing pumps, pipes and sludge pumps, ensuring a complete and efficient system.
Unlike conventional clarification systems, these units can operate within a significantly smaller footprint while maintaining throughput, making them suitable for space-constrained sites or modular deployment.
From a performance perspective, the impact is measurable. DAF systems can reduce total suspended solids by up to 95 %, fats, oils and grease by up to 98 % and particulate biochemical oxygen demand by as much as 85 %. This level of solids removal not only improves water quality for reuse within the plant but also enhances downstream processes and reduces the burden on tailings storage facilities.
Energy efficiency is another consideration shaping technology adoption. By replacing conventional air compression systems with microbubble pump technology, energy consumption can be reduced significantly, lowering operational costs while improving system reliability. Built-in automation and remote monitoring capabilities further support deployment in remote or distributed mining environments, where rapid response and reduced downtime are critical.
However, as effective as these systems are, treatment alone does not solve the broader challenge of mine water management. Complex water streams often require multiple treatment stages, including chemical conditioning, filtration and dewatering, underscoring the need for integrated solutions rather than singletechnology fixes.
“ Dissolved air flotation on its own will not be able to eradicate the challenges that exist within mine water management. The solution will come from the combination of various technologies to treat complex streams that are produced by the mining environment. It will take subject matter experts to understand what the feed water quality will be at the time and put together
Supplied by Xylem South Africa
Tshepang Dolamo, Business Development & Industrial Solutions engineer, Xylem.
advanced technologies to create a sustainable solution for the mines,” says Dolamo.
A solution will require partnering with different stakeholders, ranging from chemical suppliers, other technology providers and the end users, if required, to ensure that sustainable development goals are achieved.
This is where the role of monitoring and data visibility becomes critical. According to Insight Terra, many operations still rely on periodic reporting and fragmented datasets to manage water systems. These approaches provide only a partial view of system performance and can miss rapidly changing conditions.
As Alastair Bovim, co-founder and CEO of Insight Terra, explains, the shift towards continuous monitoring is not just about collecting more data, but about ensuring that systems are visible and functioning in real time. In some cases, the most significant risks stem not from complex engineering failures, but from simple operational oversights. Instances where monitoring equipment appears functional but has stopped transmitting data, sometimes due to something as basic as expired connectivity, illustrate how easily blind spots can develop.
In high-risk environments such as tailings facilities or water-scarce regions, these gaps can have significant consequences. Without continuous visibility, operations may be slow to detect changes in water levels, quality, or system performance, increasing both environmental and operational risk.
The convergence of treatment technologies and real-time monitoring is therefore becoming a defining feature of modern mine water management. Treatment systems such as DAF play a critical role in removing contaminants and enabling reuse, while digital platforms ensure that these systems are operating as intended and that emerging risks are identified early.
www. africanmining. co. za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining • June 2026 • 17