- For excess mine water to be treated to potable quality standards and reticulated to the local community
- Treat water to a standard suitable for use in the metallurgical plant, thereby reducing the demand for reticulated Board water for the plant’s operations
- Release any additional excess water to the natural waterways
A Cost-Effective Alternative to Reticulated Board Water
The Brief
We helped the customer in these three ways:
Enabled the mine to substitute a portion of its Board water requirements with treated mine water.
Enables the mine to supply good quality drinking water to the local community servicing the mine.
Further excess mine water is treated through the water plant to a quality standard that is compliant and legal for discharge to the surrounding environment.
The Client
The mine is a single shaft operation of a globally listed gold mining and exploration company with its headquarters on the West Rand in Gauteng. Mining is conducted to a depth of 2219m below surface, with ore hoisted through the main shaft.
The Work
Watercare Innovations designed, fabricated, erected, commissioned and operate a water treatment plant to treat a minimum of 5 500m³/day mine return water to produce either SANS 241-2015 compliant potable water or water suitable to reuse in the metallurgical plant.
Excess water is discharged to the river in accordance with the Water Use License issued to the mine by the Department of Water Affairs.
The Result
- The rate at which Watercare Innovations supplies the water is R7,22/m3 (2020) compared to Board reticulated water at R13,13/m3(2020).
- This represents a 45% reduction in the unit cost of water supply to the mine and its community.
- The calculated ROI on the water treatment plant for the mine is 36 months.
