Romarco Minerals has awarded Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies a contract to supply engineering design, equipment, construction oversight and startup of a new 1,200 gal/min (gpm) DenseSludge™ water treatment plant at its Haile gold mine located in Kershaw, South Carolina. The high density sludge water treatment solution chosen for the mine ensures that any discharge meets all National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements.

The treatment system selected is a two stage process. Veolia’s DenseSludge process was selected for stage one, which utilises a MULTIFLO™ high rate package clarifier to create a crystalline sludge. The DenseSludge process reduces the normal sludge volume created by a factor of 5 to 10 times and creates a sludge that is easier to dewater, which is important in the high solids water at the Haile mine site. Stage two utilises an inclined plate clarifier and five multi-media filters to polish the effluent clarified water. Haile is one of the oldest US gold mines with gold discovered in 1827 and has been operating on and off for almost 200 years. The mine is confirmed to contain over 2 Moz of gold and the water treatment plant will commence construction once all required permits have been obtained.