Acid Mine/Rock Drainage (AMD/ARD) from operating mines and abandoned mine sites require treatment to prevent adverse impacts to rivers and streams, which can produce significant volumes of sludge. Many AMD/ARD systems operating today are facing constraints on their sludge storage capacities whether they are impounding the sludge above or below ground.

Veolia Water Technologies offers mining companies a proprietary process known as DenseSludge that reduces the cost of water treatment and sludge management in AMD/ARD treatment systems.

The DenseSludge process reduces the volume of sludge that needs to be disposed by as much as 90% compared with conventional processes. This can extend the life of existing sludge storage facilities and/or minimize the amount of new storage that must be built.

Key benefits of DenseSludge:

• Reduces sludge volume in clarifier underflow by 90%
• Minimizes lime usage and associated cost
• Removes manganese and iron at a lower pH than predicted by theoretical solubility curves
• Decreases sludge flow back to the mine pool, reducing re-treatment costs
• Provides consistent pH control
• Minimizes calcium sulphate and calcium carbonate scaling