Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is today pleased to announce that it has entered into a cross-licensing agreement with Tasmanian waste treatment and innovation company Green Shadows Commercial Pty Ltd. The cross-licensing agreement allows each company to use the technology of the other in a variety of projects related to the treatment of acid mine drainage (“AMD”) at mine sites throughout Australia.
“Virotec has a twelve-year history of successfully treating AMD at mine sites around the world using its ViroMine Technology,” explained Daniel Blair, Virotec’s General Manager, “including at mines in Australia, Laos, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States. However, the new agreement with Green Shadows Commercial gives Virotec access to know-how and design engineering which are supplemental to ViroMine Technology. Specifically, because it allows for the incorporation of ozofractionation with any of the reagents used in ViroMine Technology into a fully ‘engineered solution’ of plant, equipment, chemical reagent dosing and monitoring, the cross-licensing agreement opens new horizons for AMD treatment to both companies.”
Read more →Further to its announcement of April 15th, 2010 related to the treatment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is today pleased to announce that it has achieved something very few waste treatment companies can claim: the successful destruction of intractable organochlorine pesticide contamination from industrial wastewater.
Specifically, Virotec has been successful in reducing one of the most intractable and persistent chemical compounds known to man: Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT. In addition to destroying DDT in wastewater, Virotec demonstrated that its ViroFlow Technology can reduce levels of the DDT metabolites DDD and DDE, along with chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate insecticide). DDT was the subject of the important 1962 book Silent Spring, in which the author Rachel Carson first presented the ecological and human costs of DDT agricultural spraying in the United States, leading to DDT being banned in the U.S. in 1972. (more…)
Read more →MMG’s South Hercules mine on Mt Hamilton is near the Tarkine wilderness, Australia’s largest temperate rainforest and the mine will mainly produce gold and silver. The mine is employing low-impact mining techniques to reduce their environmental impact, including the installation of a new acid mine drainage wastewater and stormwater treatment plant designed to treat about 150,000 litres of acidic water per day. The wastewater treatment plant, which uses Virotec’s ViroMine Technology as a key element in the treatment process of acidic water, was featured in a recent ABC television and radio profile on the mine.
Click on the following video link to see the advances being made at the South Hercules mine and how they are being deployed to protect the Tarkine wilderness.
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions has entered into an agreement with Tas Paper Pty Ltd, to conduct one of its largest environmental remediation projects to date: the demolition, sorting, treatment and disposal of mercury contaminated waste at a large recently closed Paper Mill at Burnie, Australia.
This is the third large-scale project implemented for Tas Paper by Virotec in the last 2 years, all of which involved the treatment and disposal of mercury contaminated waste.
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that a new technical document summarising Virotec’s ability to treat the solid, liquid and gaseous waste generated from the coal industry has been released. The document, authored by Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer, provides a detailed overview of the properties of coal wastes as well as some of the documented health risks associated with this form of waste, and presents findings from a number of Virotec projects which have successfully treated wastes from coal mining, coal beneficiation and coal combustion. The projects cover a series of Virotec applications at coal mines and coal-fired power stations in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States.
Coal is one of the world’s most plentiful energy resources, and its widespread use is likely to quadruple by 2020,” said Dr Fergusson, “however, coal mining, coal beneficiation, coal seam gas production, and the combustion of coal in power plants collectively produce large volumes of toxic waste. For example, coal mining generates fine coal washery tailings which can be similar in physical and chemical composition to other mine tailings, semi-liquid coal ‘fly ash’ which is stored in impoundments, and acid mine drainage (AMD). These wastes contain a variety of contaminants, including known carcinogens like arsenic, chromium, mercury and selenium that Virotec has a decade’s worth of experience in treating. It is no great surprise therefore to find that our ViroMine and ViroFlow Technologies successfully ameliorate coal waste. As some forms of coal waste also contain polonium, thallium and radioactive lead, the effective treatment of these wastes should be of paramount concern to society.”
Read more →Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that it is offering smart solutions to dam wastewater treatment during the upcoming wet season in Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. The offer, outlined today by Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer, provides mine operators with a total solution to address the problems associated with over-topping and nappe vibration, stormwater management, unscheduled releases, and potential dam failures due to stormwater and catchment overload.
Dr Fergusson pointed out that any number of chemical reagents can be used in Virotec’s smart solutions, but in all cases they used the “highest degree of proven treatment effectiveness supported by objective and comprehensive evaluation”.
“According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the outlook for November 2011 to February 2012 indicates a wetter season is more likely over large parts of northern, eastern and southwest Australia. A persistently warm Indian Ocean is the main driver behind this outlook, although it is also consistent with the developing La Niña in the Pacific Ocean,” said Dr Fergusson. “With higher-than-expected rainfall at mine sites comes the increased risk of rising dam levels and the threat of over-topping and unscheduled and uncontrolled contaminated stormwater releases. These risks can quickly result in contaminant levels and metal loadings in receiving waters exceeding allowable discharge limits. Virotec is a specialist in treating the contaminants in mine site dam wastewater, including neutralising acidity, reducing heavy metals, and lowering total suspended solids.”
Dr Fergusson went on to say that “Virotec has effectively treated tailings dams, attenuation dams, sediment dams, and process water storage dams at mine sites throughout the world, but with many mines facing an extreme wet season, Virotec has decided to launch its new smart solutions to treat dam wastewater in the tropics. These solutions are comprised of a number of elements, including site and water evaluation, sampling and analysis, plant and equipment, reagent supply, and on-site operators. We can mobilise these resources at a moment’s notice, thereby meeting the demands associated with major wet season events.
“With a decade’s worth of experience in this industry, it is no great surprise to find that our ViroMine Technology can be mobilised quickly to meet any environmental need at a mine site. Given that there are apparently going to be many unexpected storm events throughout the top end of Australia during the next few months, it makes sense to prevent over-topping and other dam problems before they occur. With our smart solutions for treating all types of dam wastewater, Virotec is in a good position to help mining companies manage their water needs in the coming wet season.”
Read more →
Virotec Global Solutions Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that a new technical document summarising Virotec’s ability to treat radioactive elements has been released. The document, authored by Dr Lee Fergusson, Virotec’s Chief Executive Officer, presents findings from Virotec projects around the world which have successfully treated a range of radioactive elements, including uranium, strontium, caesium and thorium; the document was produced specifically for use by Virotec’s U.S. partners who are pursuing work with the Government of Japan to effectively deal with radioactive soil and water around the disabled Fukushima power plant where high levels of caesium and other radionuclides have been released into the environment.
Read more →