“Following treatment using Virotec’s technology, the treated water was 100 times cleaner than drinking water”.
Following the closure of Mt Carrington Gold and Silver mine in the early 1990’s, a legacy of over 100 years of mining was left in the form of a severely contaminated tailings dam. This 14 ha tailings dam had been the storage facility for all the contaminated water generated on the site.
After prolonged rain the dam threatened to break its banks and spill hazardous water into the largest water catchment in Northern NSW, Australia. The acidic water was laden with heavy metals and its release into the local environment would have been a catastrophe.
VIROTEC SOLUTION
The potential disaster was averted by the application of Virotec’s Technology. The Virotec total solution proved to be innovative, efficient, effective and immediately applicable during the treatment of Mt Carrington tailings dam.
Virotec’s Technology application converted the hazardous water into a reservoir of clean water by simultaneously extracting the contaminants, and creating and maintaining an isolating blanket over the tailings deposit. This prevented the escape of contaminated pore water interfering with the treatment of the surface water.
The Virotec total solution components included design, engineering, application and ongoing monitoring. Application of the Virotec total solution resulted in 350 megalitres of water being released to the local catchment with a quality that exceeded heavy metal levels of the stringent ANZECC water quality guidelines.
