In Australia, BioteQ has initiated site activities for the retro-fit of an existing metallurgical plant to incorporate the ChemSulphide process to recover copper and cobalt from acid mine drainage (AMD) at Mt Gordon, located near Mt. Isa in Queensland, which is owned and operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Minerals. BioteQ has agreed to increase its responsibilities for water management at Birla's mine site, resulting in an increase in its capital and operating costs for the project.

As a result, the commercial terms have been modified to increase BioteQ's share of recovered metals to 90% and Birla has agreed to contribute certain capital items, in cash and existing equipment, to minimize the capital risk to BioteQ.

Mine drainage from waste dumps and low grade stockpiles is acidic, containing copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals that require treatment prior to discharge of the water. Based on preliminary engineering completed by BioteQ, the ChemSulphide plant will have the capacity to treat approximately 2.2 billion litres/y of acid water containing approximately 1.44 Mlb of copper, 140,000 lb of cobalt and 23,000 lb of nickel.

Following the metal recovery stages, the water will be further treated by standard evaporation methods to maintain the water balance and eliminate any discharge from the site to meet new sulphate regulations at Mt Gordon. The new water management plan also minimizes the use of fresh water. BioteQ will construct and operate the evaporation circuit as well as manage all activities for acid water collection and treatment.

The capital cost for BioteQ's plant as well as the evaporation circuit has been estimated by BioteQ at C3.0 million, and is subject to final vendor quotations and construction bids. BioteQ has estimated the total annual operating cost, including the evaporation plant for sulphate control, to be C$ 3.1 million. The current project schedule is to complete plant construction during 2007, which is dependent on equipment deliveries and applicability of certain existing site infrastructure.

In South Africa, CSIR and Anglo Coal have signed an agreement to build a demonstration plant aimed at the recovery of products from waste gypsum. As part of this vision the GypSLiM process, a patented technology, will be employed to demonstrate the feasibility of producing valuable sulphur, limestone and magnesite from the waste gypsum produced during the neutralization of AMD.

Anglo Coal Divisional Hydrologist Peter Gunther says this is a continuation of a strategy aimed at establishing a totally eco-friendly environment at the mines - focusing primarily on waste water derived from mining operations. "We are beyond treating waste water, and are now concentrating on deriving valuable byproducts from that treatment process." The waste water treatment initiative to which he is refering is CSIR limestone neutralization technology. This uses limestone to neutralize the most acidic streams, for example leachate from a discard dump, and has reduced by half the cost of acid water neutralization in Anglo's plants. Anglo Coal is currently constructing the world's first plant to produce drinking water from AMD. The plant with a capacity of 20 megalitres/d will aim to satisfy the growing demand for drinking water in the Emalahleni Local Municipality.

Head of Joint Ventures and New Business Development at Anglo Coal South Africa , Rian Van Der Merwe: "Anglo Coal sees this [GypSLiM process] as an exciting opportunity to solve the waste problem by converting a mining environmental liability into a sustainable asset. With the creation of BEE Anglo Inyosi Coal, we see the future to be one of even greater social responsibility and serving of the community. He emphasized that even at the present 99% water recovery at the Emalahleni Water Reclamation Plant, the waste being produced over the next 20 years will cost R300 million to manage. Anglo Coal is aiming at zero waste disposal.

GypSLiM is also set to alter Africa's sulphur cycle of converting imported sulphur to sulphurous waste - South Africa imports more than 1.5 Mt/y of sulphur from Canada and the Middle East. The sulphur imported is processed, mainly into sulphuric acid, and used. Post-use, the majority of the sulphur ends up as waste gypsum. The CSIR, with technology partner, Key Structure Holdings, will use the same principles as those applied within GypSLiM, to capture and convert natural sulphurous pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide generated during the burning of sulphur rich coal, and gypsum precipitated during the production of phosphoric acid from sulphuric acid and rock phosphate.

CSIR water treatment technologies, such as the limestone neutralization technology and GypSLiM, have also laid the foundation for converting AMD into drinking water. In another partnership with Key Structure Holdings, the CSIR is currently developing an integrated chemical process to treat AMD to remove free acid, metals and sulphate to levels suitable for discharge into public streams or for re-use. Sulphate content can be reduced from 4,510 mg/litre to less than 250 mg/litre, magnesium to less than 2 mg/litre and metals to less than 1 mg/litre. A portion of the sulphate precipitates as gypsum, which is converted to elemental sulphur and calcium carbonate via the GypSLiM process. The produced calcium carbonate is recycled in the process while sulphur can be sold as a byproduct or for use to manufacture sulphuric acid.

Issues associated with mine water came to the fore in South Africa in 2005 when the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry and various gold mining companies disputed the pumping of water from the gold mines near Stilfontein. So much so that a government task team on mine closure and water management was established by the directors-general of the Departments of Minerals and Energy (DME) and Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) in August 2005 to facilitate decision making on water management and related problems. It was also set up to implement safe and sustainable mine closure options within mining areas in South Africa.

While, in the short term the costs of pumping the water has been solved (the cost is shared by the various gold mines in the area), a longterm solution to the problems posed by polluted water flowing out from mines in this region and others such as the Far East Rand has yet to be found.

While legal aspects, the ownership of the water and responsibilities for various treatment processes are important, as important is the question of the uses of mine water, the treatment of the water using biological and other methods, the recovery of useful products from the water and irrigation using mine water.