Consultant's Comment: Water, our most precious mineral

Dmitry Przhedetsky

Water is a part of hauling cycle, where it is also used for dust suppression and haul road maintenance. In some form water is always used in processing, from a traditional washery through flotation and hi-pressure leaching to biomining. Of course, no mining operations would exist without drinking water and technical water for office and camp needs.
At the same time water is often a miner’s number one enemy on site. High intake of ground water is a constant threat to many mining operations, whilst accidental floods have claimed many lives; caused closure of mines and surface subsidence. Ground water control has been a problem for both: underground and open cut mining operations.
Inherent moisture of some minerals presents a similar risk, and in some instances is impossible to drain, which makes operations deceptive. An example is a loader operator in the middle of a 40 degree heat in the Pilbara who suddenly finds himself bogged down in some kind of a swamp existing under a hard surface crust.
Deterioration of haul roads due to seepage has been a cause of accidents and premature tyre wear. There is also depreciation of the plant and equipment due to corrosion.
Often mining operations have been a cause of serious environmental changes such as loss of aquifers, aquifer contamination and disproportional increase of water table level.
Sustainability of water resources and environmental impact of any mining operation are even greater issues. Fortunately, there is enough knowledge and expertise accumulated by consulting firms to assist the mining companies in the following areas:
• Measurement, forecast and cataloguing of available water supplies
• Assessment of changes in quantity and quality of available water resources
• Design and development of regional groundwater monitoring systems
• Dewatering and drainage
• Minesite water planning
Modern technology enables us to monitor groundwater levels in real time. A mine site can use an unlimited number of monitoring wells equipped with telemetry modems. The data can be collected through point-to-point communication and could cover multiple minesites. The information received will be processed and integrated into the forecast modelling, which predicts water inflow into the mine, as well as the long-term impact of mining operations; groundwater contamination and its effect on civil water supplies.
Monitoring of water resources has to be an integral part of any mining operation and should form a base for environmental management for mining and processing facilities.

* Dmitry Przhedetsky (M Eng (Mining), FAusIMM) is a director of Geolink Consulting Pty Ltd. Contact him at: dp@geolink-consulting.com.au