Water, Sewage & Effluent November December 2018 | Page 32

One operational area that stands to benefit significantly from innovations that can assist with dewatering, is mineral processing.
Adopting peristaltic pump technology is a solution that will improve the dewatering of the product and subsequently water conservation.
Mining: reducing water usage
– more than just an aspiration
Water management is emerging as the pre-eminent sustainability issue within the
global energy and mining resource industries, and mining companies are under
increasing pressure to balance costs, increase productivity, and reduce water usage.
By Tarren Bolton
T
he mining sector remains a key
economic contributor to the
South African economy and is
one of the toughest industrialised
working environments. Driven by a
constant need to maximise on yield
for profitability, the sector faces
several challenges — and often
simultaneously. Not least of all is the
constant need of having to balance
costs versus return-on-investment
(ROI) in the wake of fluxes in the
global economy that directly impact
investment, cash flows, and planning,
as well as the trade or export potential
of mineral resources. Added to this,
water management is emerging as
the pre-eminent sustainability issue
within the global energy and mining
resource industries.
Darryl Macdougall, managing
director of Verder Pumps South
Africa, says that water has always
30
been a fundamentally important
resource across all mining and
quarrying
developments
and
operations. However, as water
scarcity becomes a reality, mining
companies are faced with numerous
civil and environmental pressures
and need to proactively review
the impact that their upstream and
downstream operations are having on
the availability and quality of this non-
renewable resource. This includes
having a deeper understanding of
where the mine gets its water from,
how it disposes of or recycles it, what
the water is being used for, potential
losses or gains, and the related
risks and opportunities — from
both a corporate and an individual
operation site level — and starting to
implement innovative solutions that
will reduce the mine’s reliance on
and usage of water.
Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2018
Local mining companies are undoubtedly
under increasing pressure to balance
costs, increase productivity, and reduce
water usage. However, navigating the
technical obstacles of pumping solutions
for specific mining applications can be
complex and these companies simply
cannot afford the potential high cost
of losses – in operations, operational
efficiencies, and the costs of equipment
churn — that can be caused by having
an inferior solution.
One operational area that stands to
benefit significantly from innovations
that can assist with dewatering, is
mineral processing. For instance,
there are many cases — and across
Africa — where a mineral processing
plant has been developed on site,
or nearby, but there are no smelters
for the beneficiation of the product
afterwards. This means that mine
companies are paying to transport a
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