Water stewardship: the big picture
Water is indispensable in mining operations, particularly in conventional mineral processing systems. However, the sector’s water use also makes it vulnerable to various political, economic, social, and technical challenges.
Many key mining regions are already located in areas of water scarcity. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of droughts and floods, altering water supplies to mining sites and surrounding communities. These changes exacerbate the potential for water conflict and disruption to mining operations. Finally, as ore grade declines, more material must be processed to maintain (let alone increase) production levels, raising water consumption further unless new processes are adopted.
Water stewardship is also inextricably linked to tailings management. Tailings dewatering recovers process water for recycling while reducing the footprint and improving the stability of tailings storage facilities. Future trends will likely exacerbate this challenge. The processing of lower-grade ores will naturally produce an increased amount of waste and, with it, an increased amount of tailings water. At the same time, climatic changes, such as periods of more intense precipitation, risk overwhelming wet tailings storage facilities. Enhancing water stewardship will, thus, have a direct additional beneficial impact on tailings management.
This multifaceted risk landscape makes improving mining’s water stewardship essential to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the industry and the critical metals and minerals it supplies. It’s why zero water waste is one of three key pillars of the FLS MissionZero Mine vision for the future of mining, alongside zero energy waste and zero emissions. As part of this, FLS has identified several opportunities for tackling the water challenge through reduced consumption and improved recovery.
