Mine water as a resource - Innovative solutions and concepts for the mine water management in modern mining and mineral exploration

摘要

World's mining each year disposes or discharges into surface water billions of cubic meters of water derived from dewatering of mine sites. In Poland, the water inflow to both open pit and underground mine sites amounts to around 3.5 - 3.6 mln m~3 per day. 90 % of these water is discharged into surface water. In terms of quality, c.a. 75% of mine inflow water, which is around 2.5 - 2.6 mln m3 daily, is of low mineralization, allowing for its direct use in economy. KGHM Polish Copper - the biggest Polish ore metal mining company - pumps out from the rock mass around 26 million cubic meters of water annually, of which around 23 million cubic meters are discharged into Odra river (www.kghm.com). Due to qualitative parameters, very often this water might be used for further application in agriculture or for drinking water supply. However, vast amount of mine water is of low-quality, is highly mineralized and enriched in a number of components classified as impurity.