The issue of water resources is looming larger and larger in mining. Last week I read that some diamond mines in Botswana are mining groundwater faster than they are mining diamonds–they are predicting they will deplete local groundwater resources by 2012. They are looking for non-water-using ways to get the diamonds. My liberal friends deplore the impact on local populations apparenty moved because they are in the way of the mines and groundwater.
Yesterday I took the elevator down to a colleague’s office where I found him pouring over piles of files on a South American mine that has effectively run out of water. What are they to do, I asked. Desalinate and pump over the mountains, was his reply. Seems he is reviewing the mine’s plans to make paste tailings as a way to reduce water consumption. Will it save water, was my innocent questions. Can’t tell, he replied, for all the models are so speculative and unbenchmarked, they could be a trip to Disney.
Ever resourceful I wracked my brain for a solution to his dilemma. One possibility is a Webinar: I had not hitherto heard of such a beast, but those resourceful folk from GoldSim sent me an email the other day with this announcement:
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GoldSim Technology Group invites you to the webinar Using GoldSim for Water Resource Management Applications on 8:30 AM PDT (-7 hours GMT) Wednesday, August 22nd. This webinar will provide an overview explaining how GoldSim is used to create realistic models of water supply, water resource, and hydrological systems in order to carry out risk analyses, evaluate potential environmental impacts, and support strategic planning. Send us an email to receive an invitation. [the address is http://www.goldssim.com/Content.asp?PageID=551]
I am going to “attend” as much for the fun, as for interest, as for trying to understand how we can keep mining going without running out of water. While I am vulnerable to attack and accusations of advertising on this blog (there is no rule against it that I know of) let me confess that in my more serious moods I have written EduMine courses on surface water, groundwater, and water balance; only the one on groundwater is posted so far–the others are “in progress re loading.” Thus I confess a passing interest in the questions of water resources, wise use, wastage, diamonds versus natives forced into the dry desert, depleted lakes and dying flamingoes, and all those things that mining can do to the environment if water planning is casual and cavalier.
Hence my final plea: “attend” the Webinar; use the technologies; and mine without depletion of water resources.
