Archives: Water management

As sustainable processing of the world’s natural resources is becoming a norm within industries like mining, newly formed Metso Outotec says it is actively driving the transformation. The company says: “Growing interest towards the environment and the impacts of climate change, urbanisation, decreasing ore grades and electrification are forcing traditional industries like aggregates, minerals processing[…]

BHP and Rio Tinto have agreed to jointly fund a new initiative at the University of Western Australia that aims to improve global tailings management. Over five years, the companies will invest A$4 million (($2.7 million) A$2 million each) in training, research, education and practice to support tailings and waste management facilities as part of[…]

When it comes to pumping slurry, there can be very few applications that are more challenging than the hydro-transport of heavy duty slurries in oil sands production.* Not only do the pumps have to contend with the highly aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are also expected to operate in some of the[…]

SUEK says it has commissioned a new flotation unit at the Kirov coal wash plant in the Kemerovo region of Russia. The technology, introduced at SUEK for the first time, maximises washing efficiency of coal fines (0-0.35 mm), producing a high-quality concentrate (calorific value over 6,600 kcal) with an ash content of 8-9% from a[…]

The University of Sydney’s Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering has set out how Australia’s copper mining sector can become emission free over the next 30 years through the use of emerging technologies in a new report. The Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future report is a ‘world first’ roadmap, commissioned by the International Copper[…]

A prefeasibility study on an expansion of OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena copper-gold underground mine, in South Australia, has indicated a block cave conversion in the lower portion of the Carrapateena resource has the potential to almost double average production from 2026. It is these results, plus the potential Block Cave 1 and Block Cave 2 expansion[…]

Mining companies already use water treatment and desalination to manage brine and brackish water, but current thermal solutions require high levels of energy usage and only recovers 80% of brine. MAXH2O, a membrane-based water solution from IDE Technologies, can increase recovery up to 98% and uses only 25% of the energy, reducing costs and lessening[…]

Metso says Salares Norte, a Chile greenfield project owned by Gold Fields, has ordered three of its Vertical Plate Pressure Filters with all the ancillary equipment for dry tailings processing. The order has been booked in Metso’s June quarter orders received, with the filters expected to be commissioned in October 2022. Francois Swanepoel, Technical Manager[…]

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has released a Climate Action Plan that, it says, demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Australia minerals industry to decarbonise the economy and address climate change. The plan outlines how the MCA and its members are taking action on climate change as part of the minerals sector’s collective commitment[…]

Paterson & Cooke is currently engaged on several tailings pumping system upgrade projects and a recent article by one of its Directors Peter Goosen deals with the question of how to plan for them. These upgrades are typically associated with increased throughput requirements (associated with a plant expansion), increased pumping head requirement, (associated with increased[…]