Water Management in the Australian Minerals Industry

Abstract: Due to the range of climatic regimes in which they are found, mines may be faced with having too much water, or not enough, but rarely do they have just the right amount of water of the required quality. Water is required for dust suppression during open pit mining and, more particularly, for mineral processing. Water is also liberated in the course of mining and may become contaminated. Dust suppression can be carried out with water of relatively poor quality, such as water already affected by mining activity, provided that runoff does not lead to contamination of the receiving environment. Mineral processing generally requires raw water of relatively good quality, although there are enforced exceptions, such as the need to use hypersaline groundwater in the Kalgoorlie mining region of Western Australia. Mineralised mining and processing wastes can be a source of poor quality water, requiring the control of discharge to the receiving environment. The paper highlights a range of different scenarios, illustrating them with typical examples from a range of climatic regimes and mining situations, focusing on open pit mines in dry regions of Australia