AGUAS SUBTERRÁNEAS EN MINERÍA A

TAJO ABIERTO

MSc. Ing. Jorge Capuñay Sosa

Mayo - 2019
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 Mapa Hidrogeológico - modelo

AGUAS SUBTERRANEAS
Presencia de un acuífero en un medio discontinuo; flujo y almacenamiento de agua
subterránea en medio rocoso fracturado.
El agua circula por conductos preferenciales: fracturas, fallas y vetas (en zonas falladas,
rellenas con cuerpos mineralizados, que posteriormente podrían haber sido reactivadas). El
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macizo puede estar muy fracturado en profundidad por fuerte tectonismo → filtraciones.
Esquema de modelo hidrogeológico conceptual

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 DEWATERING OF OPEN PIT MINES AND
QUARRIES

By: Dr. Martin Preene

Preene Groundwater Consulting
August 2015

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MINE AND QUARRY DEWATERING

Synopsis
• Background and definitions
• Groundwater control techniques:
‐ by pumping
‐ by exclusion
• Fundamentals of dewatering
• Some thoughts on the future

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 PRACTICE PROFILE

Preene Groundwater Consulting is the Professional Practice of Dr

Martin Preene and provides specialist advice and design services in the
fields of dewatering, groundwater engineering and hydrogeology to
clients worldwide.
Dr Martin Preene has more than 25 years’ experience on projects
worldwide in the investigation, design, installation and operation of
groundwater control and dewatering systems. He is widely published on
dewatering and groundwater control and is the author of the UK industry
guidance on dewatering (CIRIA Report C515 Groundwater Control
Design and Practice) as well as a dewatering text book (Groundwater
Lowering in Construction: A Practical Guide to Dewatering).

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  DEFINITIONS

Definition
Groundwater Control
“The process of temporarily dealing with groundwater, to
allow excavations to be made in workably dry and stable
conditions below natural groundwater level”

May be known as Dewatering or Groundwater

Lowering

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 BENEFITS OF MINE DEWATERING

Workably dry conditions – avoid being flooded out and provide

more efficient operational conditions

• Improved trafficability and digging

• Better blasting conditions
• Reduced moisture content of ore/product and waste

Stable conditions – geotechnical stability

• Reduction in pore water pressures

• Allows steeper side slopes and increased factors of safety
• Avoid base heave where confined aquifers are below working
level
• Reduced risk of erosion and piping of weak zones in slopes

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  MINE DEWATERING

There are three aspects to the design and

implementation of mine dewatering

An understanding of:

• Hydrogeology
• Dewatering technology
• Environmental sensitivities and regulation

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  MINE DEWATERING

There are three aspects to the design and implementation

of mine dewatering

An understanding of:

•   Hydrogeology

• Dewatering technology

• Environmental sensitivities and regulation

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WATER MANAGEMENT FOR MINING

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WATER MANAGEMENT FOR MINING

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 MINE DEWATERING

Two main approaches to mine dewatering:

• Pumping: In-pit pumping from sumps or external

pumping from arrays of wells

• Exclusion: Physical cut-off walls, grouting and

artificial ground freezing to reduce groundwater
inflows

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IN-PIT PUMPING

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IN-PIT PUMPING

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PERIMETER DEWATERING WELLS

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PERIMETER DEWATERING WELLS

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SUB-HORIZONTAL SLOPE DRAINS

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ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE

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LOCALISED SLOPE DEWATERING

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DRAINAGE TUNNELS AND ADITS

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EXCLUSION METHODS

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 EXCLUSION METHODS

Cut-off walls – physical barriers of

lower permeability materials driven
or excavated into the ground.

One of the common methods is a

bentonite slurry wall, where a
narrow trench is excavated by
backhoe or grab and is then
backfilled with cement-bentonite or
a soil- bentonite mixture.

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 EXCLUSION METHODS

Grouting and artificial ground freezing – modifying the properties of

the in-situ ground to reduce hydraulic conductivity and exclude
groundwater from alluvial or drift deposits or to seal off preferential
flow along permeable strata or fissured zones.

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 FUNDAMENTALS OF DEWATERING

• Dewatering is typically a ‘distress purchase’ – it is only done

when necessary
• There is therefore a focus on cost minimisation
- CAPEX
• Pump and equipment capital cost
• Installation and commissioning
- OPEX
• Power cost
• Maintenance and replacement equipment
• Monitoring
• But it should be remembered that there are trade offs between
dewatering costs and potential benefits to wider mining costs
• Monitoring (e.g. of pumped flow rates and groundwater levels) is
vital for effective management of dewatering

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 FUNDAMENTALS OF DEWATERING
• Energy costs are a key part of OPEX of pumping systems

• Energy costs (and associated carbon emissions) can be

reduced by:
‒ Reducing flow rate Q
‒ Reducing total head H
‒ Reducing hours run t
‒ Improving pump efficiency η

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 POSSIBLE FUTURE TRENDS

Three areas for discussion where mine dewatering may

change in the future :

• Improved efficiency

• Technology transfer for new techniques

• Alternative business models to procure dewatering

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  IMPROVED EFFICIENCY

Real Time Remote Monitoring and control

• This can be an economic reality on almost

any site
• 4G connection can make hard wired data
connections obsolete
• Investment in inverter (variable speed)
drives can allow significant ‘automation’ of
systems to give more efficient operations
• Initial investment costs are reducing as
technology develops, payback is in the form
of reduced energy costs, reduced
carbon emissions and increased equipment
life

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  IMPROVED EFFICIENCY

 Pump Optimisation and Improved Materials

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 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

HDD (Horizontal Directional Drilling) of Dewatering

Wells
• Not new technology

• Has been used to stabilise

polders in Holland

• Has been used to extract

leachate from beneath
closed landfills

• Used or proposed on a
small number of open pit
mines to date

• There are practical

challenges with well
installation and
development

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 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Removal of Suspended Solids from Dewatering Water

• Technology in wide use in industrial processes, water supply and
construction industry

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 ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS MODELS

• The traditional business model for pumped dewatering

is sale/lease/hire of pumps and ancillary equipment and
then maintenance either by the mine operator site team
or under a maintenance contract
• This is not really a ‘dewatering service’
• A mine or quarry wants to produce product
economically (maximise output, minimise unit cost),
they don’t care about the pumps per se
• Can we move to a dewatering service more focused on
what is more important for the mine or quarry operator?

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 ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS MODELS
• In the airline industry Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and GE no
longer sell engines – they offer a service based on ‘thrust
hours’ – focusing on what the client needs – Rolls Royce has
trademarked the term ‘Power by the Hour’.
• Generically known as ‘performance-based logistics’ .
• Made possible by long term agreements and remote
monitoring and control, contractual arrangements where the
service provider has vested interest in reducing energy usage,
and improving efficiency.
• Client shifts the main investment from CAPEX to OPEX and
gains certainty of cost over mine life, and confidence that
pumping availability will not affect mining. 33
 A FINAL THOUGHT

It is possible that there are some unheralded

technologies, apparently far removed from mining and
quarrying that will have a significant impact on mine
dewatering in the future.

History shows that any consideration of the future needs

to be tempered by Amara’s law, which states:

We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the

short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.

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DEWATERING OF OPEN PIT MINES AND
QUARRIES

¿PREGUNTAS?

¿COMENTARIOS?

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