Water care award, commendation: XStrata Coal South Africa.
Xstrata Coal South Africa and Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner have one thing in common: a desire to avoid the ‘Water, water, everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink” scenario. But whereas the Ancient Mariner was left thirsty, bobbing on a becalmed sea, Xstrata has found a way to transform a problem into a solution.
Mining has a huge water footprint and Xstrata is trying to look after the ailing resource in a responsible way. ‘The primary objective of [our] strategic water management plan is to address water management proactively while the mines are in operation rather than treating water as a problem to be managed separately from our core business,” Xstrata’s Vicki Shaw said.
Xstrata owns and manages five mine complexes. Each has developed its own integrated water and waste management plan that details how they will manage their water challenges in keeping with the company’s overall plan.
Despite the unique challenges of its different mine complexes, several identifiable water preservation measures apply across the board. For example, the company separates clean and dirty water on site. This ensures that dirty water does not seep into streams and rivers.
Clean water is natural surface run-off, which has not come into contact with areas that have been disturbed by mining activity. But dirty water has and therefore must be drained, captured and stored safely. It is standard practice at Xstrata’s mines to build structures, such as trenches, berms (a type of raised barrier), silt and oil traps, to keep clean and dirty water separate.
The dirty water is then used at the coal washing plant, where it remains in a closed loop. The slurry from the washing plant is deposited in a residue facility and the water that drains from this is collected in a dam, before being pumped back to the plant for reuse.
Dirty water can be useful in other ways too: it can be used to suppress dust in and around the mines’ haul roads. And, if it is collected and stored on site, it can be treated and transformed into potable water. The mine is thus supplied with all its drinking water and shower needs.
The company’s water care efforts have had to carry some noteworthy results. From 2008 to 2009 the company increased the water recycled at its five sites by 80%. Xstrata is also engaged with key stakeholders who include local communities and neighbouring property owners who live around, and especially downstream of, its mining sites.
Xstrata participates in the Olifants River Forum, a voluntary organisation whose stakeholders are trying to conserve and improve the water quality in the Olifants River. The company also participates in another similar initiative, the Witbank and Middelburg Dam Controlled Release Scheme.
In future Xstrata aims to rehabilitate its open-cast mining areas to ensure successful post-closure water management. Effective mine rehabilitation means that disused mines will not create dirty water run-off. The company admits that it is faced with ‘a backlog in rehabilitation”, but says it is working to address the problem.
Reviewing Xstrata’s water care credentials, the judges said: ‘Given the impact of what they do, any effort to mitigate [the impact] should be encouraged. XCSA should be commended for encouraging the industry to take its water issues seriously.”