WRC
Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, officially launched the Eastern Basin’ s AMD plant— the third high-density sludge treatment plant in the province to deal with the legacy issue of acidic mine water.
water conservation to ensure sustainable use.” He says in-depth studies of water re-use passive treatments, sustainable well field development, and mitigation of pollution sources are common measures the industry have adopted over the past few years.
“ In recent years, the sustainable use of water by mines has evolved. New processing methods and water management tools have decreased mines’ usage of the amount of fresh water, such as rainwater, groundwater, rivers and dams, and the mitigation of any potential impacts have improved,” he says. A good case study is a gold mine in Africa, where Digby Wells was involved in achieving improved water sustainability with a water balance that incorporated site-wide climatic conditions, process plant water circuits, and other sinks within the mine.
During a sustainability breakfast hosted by Digby Wells at Mining Indaba, Exxaro’ s head of sustainability, Mongezi Veti, said Exxaro is deep diving into the issue of water usage, along with many other players in the industry who sees water as a top priority for continuing doing business in South Africa.
Prof. Jennifer Broadhurst at the University of Cape Town’ s Minerals to Metals centre added to the conversation that initiatives— including minimising water usage, recycling, reusing and use of secondary nonpotable water sources— are insufficient measures for supplying and avoiding community impact and conflict.“ Increasingly, mines have to look at partnerships, either with each other, or with government to find solutions,” said Prof. Broadhurst.
Several examples in the sector point towards a focus on water partnership. Acid mine drainage( AMD) has been a priority for the
30 Water Sewage & Effluent March / April 2017