The vital role of water within the mining industry, both as an asset which generates value as
well as a shared natural resource requiring responsible stewardship, have long been
recognised. Due to extreme climate changes, an increasing population density and poor
water management, securing of water has become a global challenge and water scarcity will
continue to be one of the greatest challenges facing mine water management. There is no
simple recipe for mine water management and regulations by environmental authorities,
along with past polluting practices, are forcing mining operations to improve and prioritise
their water consumption. Accordingly, this sector is expected to be increasingly required to
demonstrate leadership through innovative water use management.
A mine water balance is considered to be one of the most important and fundamental tools
available for mining operations as management begins with a basic understanding of where
water is sourced from, and where it is utilised. With this kept in mind, a mine water balance
should be based on a holistic systems model approach with an appropriate relationship
between the required level of complexity in the model structure and purpose. Excessive
detail can cause the model to become clumsy and tend not to focus on strategic water
management principles. Emphasis should be put on a system approach, taking into
consideration the main interactions, feedbacks and functional relationships between the
various parts of the whole system.
An overall mine water balance that superimposes different water systems can be divided into
a process water system and a natural water system. The natural water system is associated
with the intrinsic hydrological cycle and is often disregarded due to uncertainties. It can
however significantly impact on mine water usage and losses as indicated in this case study.
Consequently, decision making and management options should be based on the evaluation
of the system as a whole and inclusion of the natural system as a component of the mine
water balance is imperative for accurate quantification. The natural system includes a
surface water environmental circuit as well as a groundwater environmental circuit. Surface
and groundwater resources have historically been managed separately, but more than ever
before, interaction between these two systems are required to facilitate effective resource
management. Mining activities have a major effect on the modification of the hydrological
regime and the influence of increased hydraulic conductivity along with mining induced
recharge, should be evaluated as part of the adapted mine water balance. Furthermore,
mine dewatering predictions and climatic scenarios must be incorporated to reflect site
conditions more accurately. As poor water management poses an operational risk to mining operations, this sector has
developed novel ways to respond to water issues in differing circumstances and has
illustrated the ability to turn risk into opportunity. Now, more than ever, special measures are
needed to identify options for life-of-mine strategies and initiatives for water conservation
and management. Future focus should be to continue investigation and implementation of
the water use strategies in order to improve performance across operations and encourage
engagement with other water users. Moreover, to share experiences, learn from others and
contribute to water discussions and debate at local, national and international levels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-08082014-102550 |
| Date | 08 August 2014 |
| Creators | Mostert, Joseph Ferdinand Willem |
| Contributors | Dr PD Vermeulen |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-08082014-102550/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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