Veolia Water Technologies Canada, has been chosen by mining company, Pretium Resources Inc. to supply the new effluent treatment facility for the Brucejack gold mine in British Columbia, Canada. Brucejack is one of the largest and highest-grading undeveloped gold mining projects in the world with commercial production targeted for 2017.
As part of the agreement, Veolia will treat up to 10,000 m3 per day of effluent water from the mine. The permanent effluent treatment system will consist of several technologies, including the Actiflo clarification process for primary metals removal. The water will be further polished by a highly-efficient Hydrotech Discfilter technology, which gives added insurance in meeting very stringent discharge criteria. Start-up of the new mining effluent treatment facility is scheduled for spring 2017.
This contract follows months of collaboration and testing to ensure that the environmental discharge limits would be met. The exhaustive test work that was carried out at Veolia laboratories in Montreal has been largely used in support of the permitting work that has been prepared by Pretium for the Canadian and provincial authorities.
“Based on Pretium’s investment in several months of test work, it was clear how committed they are to ensuring their environmental stewardship,” said David Oliphant, VP of Business Development Heavy Industry for Veolia Water Technologies Canada.
Klaus Andersen, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies, Inc., said, “The Brucejack project is a great example of how Veolia can partner with industrial clients over several years, from rapidly providing a temporary solution to working through months of testing and navigating the steps to secure required permitting, and coming up with the best water treatment solution possible. We are very proud to be working with Pretium on this exciting mining project.”
Veolia started working with Pretium in spring 2014 to dewater Brucejack’s underground workings during its exploration phase. Veolia then supplied a temporary water treatment plant, which it has operated since.
Pretium Resources is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pretium is advancing Brucejack to production as a 2,700 tonnes per day underground mine, with commercial production targeted for 2017.
