Company Announcement - Water is a vital, but scarce resource in South Africa and with decreasing water quality and available freshwater resources almost fully-utilised, industry is compelled to make careful water management a priority. Leading environmental solutions company I-CAT continues to contribute to the development of South Africa’s water-efficient economy through its development of products and services assisting industry in water effluent management – states I-CAT technical manager Morné van Wyk. “Although we specialise in the mining and heavy industries, we can assist wherever there is a problem or shortage. I-CAT offers complete world-class solutions packages – from consulting, system design, manufacturing, installation and commissioning – to maintenance and training,” he explains.
While I-CAT focuses on ensuring water reuse in industrial processes, van Wyk indicates that the company’s function is not limited to this. “Most industries wish to comply with their water license and waste management plans. That being said, we sometimes have to clean the water up to a discharge standard, so that they can discharge safely into the environment without harm and penalties.”
Extending its reach into Africa, I-CAT recently completed a commission by First Quantum Minerals to design, manufacture and install ten drinking water plants for the Kansanshi copper mine in Zambia. “The main challenges going into any foreign country will always be logistics, but we have well-established offices in the area, which made the logistics a lot easier,” van Wyk continues. To increase the uptake of its offerings, I-CAT simplifies solutions and reduces costs through constant innovation. Van Wyk adds that the company is committed on constantly researching and developing new technologies in order to remain highly-competitive in a challenging industry. “On a local level, I-CAT is currently undertaking extensive research and development into an evaporation process for the brine generated by industrial waste water cleansing.
Our industries rely heavily on our resources and it’s their responsibility to find alternatives. We are quickly running out of useable resources and the country, economy and people won’t be able to provide or survive if water conservation is not made the number one priority and responsibility,” he concludes.