REDUCING WATER TREATMENT COSTS WHILE MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY

摘要

Increases in the global demand for commodities produced by the mining industry has intensified pressure on the environment and created opportunities for new technologies and new business models to take hold in the marketplace. In the last twelve years, BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. has evolved from early site pilot testing to the implementation of profitable, commercial scale sulfidebased mine wastewater treatment plants in six countries. BioteQ’s processes produce treated water that can be safely discharged to the environment or recycled, and saleable metal products such as zinc, copper, nickel and cobalt which help offset treatment costs. Recently the company has successfully completed piloting of a new ion exchange based technology for sulphate removal from mine wastewater to meet stricter effluent sulfate limits or for process water recycle. Recent highlights of selected water treatment projects are presented together with a discussion of the trend in the industry to meet environmental obligations by outsourcing water treatment as pressures have increased due to the expansion of mining projects and the shortage of human resources.