World first: Full-scale BioSure plant commissioned

Abstract

MINE-WATER TREATMENT The plant, constructed at a cost of R15-million, is treating sulphate rich acid mine drainage using the Rhodes BioSURE Process, a patented cost-effective biological treatment option developed over nearly a decade with funds from the Water Research Commission. This is reported to be the first full-scale plant of its kind in the world. Polluted mine-water from underground mine workings is becoming an increasing problem in South Africa as more mines close down resulting in water, both from the surface and underground, filling up the worked out shafts and becoming polluted with heavy metals and minerals. Grootvlei, one of the last remaining operational gold mines on the Far East Witwatersrand Basin, pumps about 75 Mℓ/day of water from its No 3 shaft to gain access to its gold reserves.

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