Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies’ (VWS) understanding of the unique requirements of mine operations and associated processes enables us to provide specialized water systems and innovative technologies for the mining idustry. We offer tailor-made and cost-effective water management systems focusing on technical performance and compliance with process and environmental requirements, while meeting the most demanding reliability, safety, and quality standards of the mining industry. Our services range from treatability studies to conceptual design to design-build or turnkey contracts.

VWS offers a wide range of solutions to:

• Improve productivity by treating available water for specific production process requirements, to optimize mineral production efficiency and stability
• Manage environmental hazards by treating contaminated pond and underground mine water to remove heavy metals, arsenic, TDS and other contaminants for safe discharge into the environment
• Treat contaminated water to optimize water balance and maximize reuse
• Add value to the bottom line by treating and minimizing sludge streams, to remove and/or recover suspended and dissolved constituents
• Provide high-quality drinking water and wastewater treatment even on remote mining sites

Acid mine drainage treatment systems

AMDRO™ technology is a reverse osmosis (RO) process for treatment of acid mine drainage. This technology is an ideal solution for meeting increasingly stringent requirements for reduction of total dissolved solids in discharges to the environment.

AMDRO technology significantly reduces the pre-treatment costs associated with chemicals and sludge disposal as compared to the conventional approach. The technology has low capital cost and incorporates effective scaling control to minimize the cleaning frequency for the RO membranes. Additional benefits of this desalination technology are high salt rejection and low maintenance requirements.

The patented process includes VWS’ proprietary ACTIFLO® clarification technology and media filtration for pre-treatment, followed by a double-pass RO and ion exchange polishing to produce a treated water stream suitable for discharge and reuse.

When conventional water treatment techniques for metals removal and pH adjustment are adequate to meet the discharge requirements, DenseSludge™, our proprietary sludge densification process, offers cost savings for the handling, dewatering and disposal of sludge. This process, proven in more than a dozen mining installations, reduces sludge volume in the clarifier by 90%, minimises flow to the mine pool for subsequent re-treatment (if this is the repository for the sludge), and lowers lime usage and its associated cost.

Separation and filtration technologies

VWS uses such technologies such as AutoJet® and Filtra-Matic® to clarify the pregnant liquor in gold and silver recovery circuits. This improves the efficiency of the Merrill Crowe process, which uses a sodium cyanide solution to dissolve the precious metals followed by precipitation of the dissolved ions on metallic zinc. Both technologies are very successful in filtering the aqueous/organic/fine clay that can ultimately cause major system upsets.

Excellent effluent quality and wastewater treatment

One of VWS’ newest technologies, AMDRO can help produce high-quality water with low pre-treatment costs. AMDRO is a proprietary treatment process for desalination of acidic wastewater with high concentrations of metals and calcium salts. By combining the proprietary ACTIFLO high-rate clarification process with filtration, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange, this unique technology generates high-quality effluent with minimum pre-treatment costs.

VWS also offers Hydrex™ a comprehensive range of water treatment chemicals. Hydrex offers proven formulations suitable for all types of water treatment and is suitable for environmental discharge or reuse.

Evaporation and crystallization systems

Crystallization systems have processed a wide variety of specialty metals such as vanadium, tungsten, lithium, and molybdenum. Evaporation and crystallization systems can also purify alumina from the refining of bauxite (Bayer process) and recover aluminium and product salts from aluminum dross.

About VWS

Through a strong team of business units, VWS has a worldwide presence in the mining industry. A broad geographical base has given us the expertise needed to resolve all water issues that the mining industry faces.

Mines and mineral processors need to operate efficiently and minimize downtime in their mining operations and concentrators. VWS can help operators ensure quantity and/or quality of water resources while at the same time controlling the environmental impact of their activities.