Central Basin AMD plant at full capacity, CRG hopes to reaccess mining areas
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Following a commissioning phase that dealt with some “typical teething issues”, the Central Basin acid mine drainage (AMD) high-density sludge (HDS) plant was now operating at its full 72-million-litre-a-day nameplate dewatering capacity, gold miner Central Rand Gold (CRG) said on Thursday.
CRG CEO Johan du Toit said this was the first time since 2008, when the previous pump station was flooded, that the rising water in the Central basin had been halted, providing a positive indication that the company’s large resource within the basin could still be realistically dewatered and accessed.
“With the HDS plant now able to operate at full capacity, it is hoped that we will see a [further] acceleration in the drop of the water table so that [we] can reaccess some of the mining areas which were abandoned owing to the rising water table,” he added.
Up to mid-May, CRG had witnessed a rise in the water level, to about 165 m below surface, within its mining area in the Central basin. However, since the start of commissioning of the plant, on May 23, the miner had observed that the water level within its mining area had remained relatively stable.
Initially, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, which was mandated by the former Department of Water Affairs to deal with AMD in the Witwatersrand mining areas, had only operated one of the two submersible pumps at any given time; however, since June 23, the plant had been operated at an increased rate with both submersible pumps operational.
Following the ramp-up to full capacity, CRG had witnessed a 1.5 m reduction in water levels.
The company further pointed out that, despite the “teething issues”, no fatal flaws in the design of the HDS plant were identified during commissioning, and it had been confirmed that the plant was performing in line with expectations and was discharging water in line with the approved specifications.
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