Clean iX® (Metals Recovery)
Mine Water Treatment
Ensuring reliable water supply, at the lowest possible cost, is a critical operational requirement in mines and mineral processing plants.
To help miners and process plants meet these requirements, Multotec offers a proven range of mine water treatment technologies to improve their water performance, compliance and security.
Developed and optimised in partnership with mining customers around the world, Multotec’s modular continuous counter current ion exchange and ionic filtration technologies deliver improved metals recovery through more efficient chemical precipitation efficiency and performance.
- Effectively recover wider range of metals, from gold, silver, PGMs & copper to uranium & thorium
- Ensure environmental discharge standards compliance
- Complete technology portfolio, from pre-treatment to membrane filtration
- High-quality, convenient modular plant solutions
- Complete service & technical support, from water analysis to test rigs
- Retrofit or greenfield plants
- Work towards Zero Liquid Discharge
- Effective solutions for acid mine drainage
Achieve your water treatment goals, with Multotec.
Improve reliability and lower costs of your water cycle with Multotec.Contact us
Our Mine Water Treatment technologies:
Clean-iX provides high metals recovery and high purity combines efficient forms of extraction with the best resin, providing an optimum solution for metals recovery.
CIF® (Process Water Treatment)
Small-footprint Continuous Ionic Filtration achieves high water recovery and simultaneous removal of suspended solids & dissolved ions.
HiROX®
A highly efficient, minimum-discharge water treatment process combining CIF® and ultra-high-recovery reverse osmosis (RO).
Additional equipment:
Prefiltration Screens
We will customise a prefiltration screen to your exact requirements with a complete range of panel technology.
Filter Press
We supply the range of Seprotech & Micronics filter presses for dewatering and water reducing applications.
Slurry Pumps
Built for extreme durability, reliability and performance, we manufacture a complete range of pumps for mining applications.
Our water treatment specialists will work with you in optimising your water performance.
The most effective solution for mine water treatment
Treating mine water involves the removal of hazardous dissolved substances and suspended solids, including cyanides, arsenic, sulphates and toxic heavy metals with maximum cost-effectiveness and lowest ecological footprint.
Continuous counter-current ion exchange combines the high resin efficiency, minimised resin inventory and higher concentration capabilities of continuous ion exchange with the maximum reaction driving force for highest, selective recovery of counter current ion exchange.
The results is the most efficient form of ion exchange available on the market. This means lower costs and improved performance of your water treatment cycle:
- Optimised resin use for significant cost savings on inventory
- Effectively accommodates fluctuations in feed grade
- Selectively recover valuable, saleable trace by-products
- Reduced downstream processing requirements – concentrated lower volume eluate
- Reduced pre-treatment requirements, with operations up to 110 ppm TDS
- High water recoveries (up to 97%)
- Treat up to 50 ML/day per plant
- Low maintenance with minimal operator input requirements
Ion Exchange applications
Multotec ion exchange solutions are ideal in treating mine water and recovering minerals across a wide range of applications:
BASE METALS
- Recovery of Cu, Ni, Zn lost to tailings
- Copper recovery from effluent/excess water
- Treatment of water for makeup, demin water
CHROME
- Nitrates and Sulphates
- Chrome (VI)
- Make-up water for cooling systems
- Clean-iX – Recovery of PGMs in tailings
MINERAL SANDS
- Treatment of acidic, sulphate water produced – hot acid leach of rutile
PLATINUM
- Nitrates in shaft water
- Excess water treated for re-use
- Recover PGM’s lost to tailings
GOLD
- Treatment of shaft water
- Uranium recovery from water and tailings
- Cyanide recovery
- Treatment of acidic, sulphate dominant water
COAL
- Acidic, sulphate dominant water
- Treat excess water for reuse
Lowering your resin inventory costs
Ion exchange resins are typically the most expensive item in ion exchange applications. That’s why our resins are designed for maximum efficiency and reuse. We will work with you in selecting the most appropriate resin for your application depending on your process condition, including:
- Type & concentration of functional group
- Concentration of target species
- Presence of other species
- Solution pH
- Temperature
Multotec has achieved total water costs of R8/kL on mineral processing plants.
Mine Water Services & Test Work
From water sampling to lab-scale test work, Multotec help you lower your plant’s operating costs.
On-Site Test Work
Multotec offer clients a two-stage, 1 m3/hr test rig, which can be assembled on-site for water testing and optimisation.
Laboratory Test Work
We offer resin screening, IX kinetics, equilibrium isotherm and column loading & elution tests as part of our lab services.
Our 1 m³/hr, 2-stage test rig for piloting Clean-iX / CIF® technology applications.
Multotec technology is ideal for treating Acid Mine Drainage
Our ion exchange technology is highly effective in scavenging toxic heavy metals and can remove over 99.4% sulphate content of acid mine water, helping to prevent ground and surface water pollution from mines.
A single CIF® system can extract acid from the water, producing neutral water for discharge. The increase in pH by the system causes several elements to precipitate, providing further water purification. This is possible through in-column precipitation and solids handling.
If the resultant TDS of the product water is too high, the CIF® system can be replaced by a DeSALx® system. CIF®/DeSAlx® can also be used in conjunction with a precipitation step, which incorporates a brine treatment process and can help work towards zero liquid discharge (ZLD).
Read more about our acid mine drainage treatment solutions.
Speak to our Water Treatment Division
Optimise the way your mine uses water, with Multotec.