May 2014
MODERN MINING
63
PRODUCT News
Modular water plants
delivered to DRC mine
In a logistical feat, a large mining project in the DRC has received
a total of seven modular water treatment plants – four to treat
domestic sewage, and three for supplying drinking water – from
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa, a subsidiary
of Veolia Water. The plants will service construction and opera-
tions camps in the area.
Six of these plants will be installed at the construction-phase
gold mine in the north-eastern DRC to support construction,
maintenance and operations staff, while one of the drinking
water plants will be installed at an important trading post nearby.
The largest of the wastewater plants will treat 3 000 litres per hour
to serve roughly 300 people.
“These plants use trickling filter technology that is ideally
suited for operation in Africa,” says Warrick Sanders, Project
Engineer at Veolia. “Trickling filter plants are robust and recover
easily from power cuts with minimal disruption to the biological
processes. With typically one to two sets of motors being the only
moving parts, these plants need minimal maintenance.”
Plastic honeycomb carrier elements, designed for high-perfor-
mance biological growth, facilitate the aerobic treatment which
breaks down organic matter and supports nitrification. After the
subsequent clarification process to remove accumulated bio-
mass, water is disinfected with chlorine and discharged, while any
sludge is fed back into the system for re-digestion. This discharge
typically conforms to South African general standards for effluent
discharge into natural water sources.
Veolia was also contracted to supply septic tanks which
form a pre-treatment step by facilitating anaerobic digestion of
COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen
demand).
The three drinking water plants will source water from bore-
holes: filtration will remove any sediment, while chlorination will
ensure water is disinfected and suitable for human consumption.
Veolia’s modular plants are assembled to 95 % completion at
the company’s Sebenza factory in Johannesburg. They are com-
pletely containerised for easy transportation and scalability, and
need minimal setup once on site.
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa, tel (+27 11) 663-3600
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa has supplied seven
modular water treatment plants to a gold project in the north-eastern DRC.
