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" Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow." Arthur Stringer, The Silver Pop

" Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow." Arthur Stringer, The Silver Poppy. Desalination Plants & the Environment Ranger Uranium Mine Experience. Alan Nisbet OSMOFLO Pty Ltd. Contents. Who is OSMO FLO? Desalination - overview

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" Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow." Arthur Stringer, The Silver Pop

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  1. "Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow." Arthur Stringer, The Silver Poppy

  2. Desalination Plants & the Environment Ranger Uranium Mine Experience Alan Nisbet OSMOFLO Pty Ltd

  3. Contents • Who is OSMOFLO? • Desalination - overview • Environmental Challenges at ERA –Ranger Mine site • OSMOFLO solution • Current Desalination Projects Australia Wide 

  4. Australia’s Desalination Company

  5. All Australian Company • Australia’s largest manufacturer of desalination systems • 17 years experience • 200 strong workforce dedicated to desalination technology

  6. More than 250 Plants Worldwide Providing: • Drinking water from seawater or brackish groundwater • Process water for industrial applications – Mining, Energy, Community Water, Medical, Food & Beverage & General Industry • Custom Engineering • Technical Support 24/7

  7. World Class Manufacturing Facility • RO manufacturing capability in Australia raised to a new level • World class facility (4 times larger than current size) • Provides a ready-made fabrication line to support Prime Contractors building Australia’s large scale desalination plants

  8. Introduction • Large scale desalination in 1950s - distillation • RO developed 1960s (cellulose acetate) • TFC 1980s • Continuous improvement • Becoming competitive with “harder to obtain” surface or ground water sources

  9. Unit Costs for Alternative Water Sources

  10. Desalination in SA • First desalination plant at Penneshaw (1999) – 300 kL/d and 30 ML storage • Marion Bay SWRO plant (30 kL/d) for DC Yorke Peninsula • Potential projects • BHP Billiton Whyalla – 150 ML/d • Adelaide – 270 ML/d feasibility study

  11. Reverse Osmosis Seawater reverse osmosis recovery is 45% Permeate 0.45 Feed 1.00 Concentrate 0.55

  12. Desalinisation Environmental Challenges at Ranger Uranium

  13. Ranger Mine – Kakadu National Park • Uranium Mine on Traditional Aboriginal Land., surrounded by World Heritage and Wetlands of International Standing. • Most regulated Mine site in Australia • 30-40 Govt Agencies have assets within Kakadu to protect • 70- 80 Acts of Parliament directly related to Ranger Operations at Kakadu • Water discharge only allowed after extensive contingencies and multiple back-up plans implemented

  14. Pond Water (RP2) Background/ Problems • RP2collects rain that falls on stockpiles ore body #1 and other areas around processing plant • Potential problems arise when ponds are at or near capacity • Excess pond water due to steady accumulation of water during above average wet season years between 1996 and present • All year mining planned from late 2006 -2008 • Feb2007 800mm of rain in 3 days (1 in 2,000 year event) Cyclone George. • Pond water contains following Cations, Anions and other parameters ; Calcium, Manganese, magnesium, sulfate and Uranium • Disposal to Magella Creek requires treatment to reduce parameters to acceptable disposal levels determined by Commonwealth Environmental Requirements

  15. RP 2 Solution • Pilot plant study to explore method of reducing U &226 Ra in Pond Water for discharge to Magellan creek during wet season – Limits 40ug/L Uranium and 100 mbq/L Ra. • Magella Creek Water Quality Objectives • Action Levels Limit • pH 5.6,6.7 5.2,6.9 • Turbidity 10 26 • U 0.9 6.0 • Mn 11 26 • Radium 226 26 • Mg Use EC triggers • Sulfate Use EC triggers Key Variables: pH,EC,Sulfate,Manganese, Uranium and Radium

  16. Pilot Plant Results • Overall, the trial objectives were met and the water treatment process for RP2 water at Ranger had been developed and proven. • RO Antiscalant Critical • Parameter Units Maximum value for discharge Value achieved in trial Maximum value for discharge • U μg/L 40* Average 5.3 Maximum measured 8.6 • Ra mBq/L 100* Average 15.3 Maximum measured 22.8 • Conductivity μS/cm 400* < 30 for entire trial

  17. Location map RP1 Pit 3 RP2 Tailings dam Pit 1

  18. Composition of RP2 water over time

  19. New Osmoflo plant

  20. Current Desalination Projects Australia Wide

  21. Questions? "

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