East Africa Mining — Tailings Water Recovery

Challenge

A gold mining operation in East Africa needed to recover process water from tailings ponds to reduce freshwater intake in a water-scarce region. High suspended solids and clay content made natural settling impractical.

Solution

CHIMI ART supplied anionic polyacrylamide flocculant optimized for the mine's specific tailings chemistry. A thickener-based system was designed to continuously process tailings and return clarified water to the process.

Results

• 85% water recovery from tailings (vs. 30% with natural settling)
• 60% reduction in freshwater intake from local sources