Wastewater characteristics, management and reuse in mining & mineral processing industries

This article focuses on the management of water and wastewater within a mining and mineral processing industry. The scope of mineral processing is restricted to the on-site activities. This article identifies the sources of wastewater generated from a typical mine site and then presents the typical characteristics of the wastewater produced from various sources. The wastewater characteristics presented are derived from several case studies conducted on coalmines in the Illawarra region of Australia. Subsequently, the article also identifies possible wastewater minimization, treatment, reuse and disposal options