Enhancing Water Treatment at Legacy Mining Sites
Legacy mining water treatment: tailored solutions for former mines
Responsible businesses recognise the importance of understanding and mitigating the risks and impacts their operations may pose to the environment. Crucially, this extends from the very beginning of an operation’s life to beyond closure.
A global mining company commissioned Isle to supervise and coordinate water treatment efforts at five legacy sites in France. In France, the closure division deals with former mines and industrial landfills where water must be treated before it is safely discharged into the environment.
This global mining company is the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation. The group has committed to adopting high standards when it comes to closure, often going beyond legal requirements on sustainability.
The company’s vision was to ease the transition of these legacy mining sites to local communities. Improving health and safety while cutting long term costs was also crucial. Each site was different, and finding the most suitable solution for each was essential to achieving this.
Isle’s work involved managing ongoing trials and guiding future research directions. The team also conducted active due diligence work to identify the most suitable solution for each challenge.
Benefits of Approach/Innovation
- Cost Effective: Our approach aimed to reduce long-term operational expenditure by identifying and implementing the most sustainable water treatments.
- Diverse Treatment Options: We identified a variety of physicochemical, biological and passive treatments that can be targeted across various sites as required.
Specialist Services Involved:
- Trial Management: Our team coordinated ongoing technology trials to assess efficacy and adaptability across sites.
- Research Guidance: We directed future research and due diligence to align solutions with the company’s site-specific challenges.
Outcomes:
- Innovative Pilot Trial: Oversaw pilot trials on mine-impacted waters. This included physicochemical, biological and passive treatments, with pilots confirming scalability.
- Internal Funding Support: Isle supported the mining company’s closure team in putting together a proposal for a request for internal funding.
- Economic Analysis: Delivered techno-economic analyses for two sites, to inform and support future decision making.
Key Contacts:
For enquiries and further information, please contact Carles Crespo, Director of Corporate Industrial Water Practice at Isle Utilities.