Acid mine water used to recover gold from dumps – DRDGold

Acid mine drainage (AMD), which is water that has been polluted as a result of mining activity, is being used to relieve the cost burden of the large volume of water needed to recover gold from mine dump material, as well as lower the demand placed on scarce drinking water. Surface mining company DRDGold revealed this week that it is currently receiving eight megalitres of treated AMD water a day from the government water organisation Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), which is roughly the same quantity of treated sewage water that it receives daily from the sewage treatment plant operated by the East Rand Water Care Company. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video).