44th Annual BC Mine Reclamation Symposium – August 2022

R.E. Shurniak, Okane Consultants

Cover system and landform design are crucial components of mine reclamation, of which the hydraulic performance is largely controlled by vegetation and material properties. Field monitoring (especially volumetric water content profiles) of a reclaimed area provides valuable information on a cover system’s and/or landform’s performance and indirectly measure a site’s vegetation and material properties. One of the most challenging and time-consuming numerical modelling problems is calibrating a model for near-surface (i.e., vadose zone) water movement, which accounts for atmospheric, vegetation, and material interactions (referred to as a Soil-Plant-Atmosphere or SPA model), to such field measurements. Previously, establishing inputs for vegetation and hydraulic properties required the model user to estimate initial inputs and then subjectively adapt the inputs while completing a multitude of iterations until a reasonable fit to field conditions was realized. To improve this process, the author has developed a simplified SPA model using the GoldSim software to quickly and objectively develop estimates of vegetation and hydraulic properties. The vegetation and hydraulic properties can then be validated within more rigorous and recognized SPA modelling software. The process can also be tailored to identify potential equifinal solutions, which can usually be eliminated through multiple factor calibration. The results of the model are calibrated vegetation and hydraulic properties that can be used to confidently predict mine reclamation performance. The paper provides an example where this modelling process has been successfully applied for a reclaimed site in the Northern Hemisphere.

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Environmental Geotechnics – March 2021

Tony Zheng and Nicholas Beier

Successful reclamation of mine tailings requires effective management of the contaminated water generated by the consolidation of tailings over time. Due to uncertainty in predicting consolidation-induced water release, mine planners often use simulation models to prepare for a range of anticipated scenarios. This paper describes the development of the Tailings Management Simulation Consolidation model (TMSim-Consol) using the GoldSim software. TMSim-Consol simulates tailings settlement over time and the upward flow of pore water due to consolidation. The advantages of using system dynamics simulation tools are illustrated by the inherent transparency of the numerical method to end users. A hypothetical reclamation set-up consisting of an oil sands thickened tailings (OSTT) deposit capped by a sand layer was simulated under a range of initial tailings properties. The simulation results showed that soil water storage in the sand cap was highly sensitive to the initial solids contents of the underlying OSTT. To limit the release of contaminated water at the surface, the initial solids content of OSTT needs to be at least 65% before sand capping.

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10th Australian Workshop on Acid and Metalliferous Drainage (AMD) 2020 – March 2020

Roald Strand

GoldSim is well suited and well used for water balancing and mass balancing (for conservative species). With creative coding the software can be outfitted with appropriate mechanics to replicate solution chemistry controls, such as complexation (ion association), gas exchange, alkalinity-pH relationships, mineralogical controls (precipitation and dissolution), as well as critical thermodynamic effects on activity. This paper summarizes the algebra formalism, database simplifications and general mechanics to replicate specific ion effects, activity model inclusion and general geochemical principles for simulating water quality equilibration in GoldSim.

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– October 2019

Benoît Paris and Ken Esposito (INTERA Inc.)

This paper illustrates the use of PhreeqcRM for computing various low-temperature aqueous geochemical calculations in GoldSim via an external dynamic link library (DLL). This coupling has been successfully benchmarked against examples from the PhreeqC manual and tested on a complex acid rock drainage conceptual case. While being completely dynamic and seamless, this implementation runs nearly as fast as native PhreeqC simulations allowing Monte Carlo calculations to fully propagate uncertainty in transport models. Furthermore, the approach is highly flexible and efficient as it enables the user to run numerous types of simulations without the need to change the DLL, thus saving potentially significant model preparation time. This tool offers mine operators the possibility to evaluate potential mine impacts and make operational decisions in real time using scientifically-defensible mechanistic models in a probabilistic framework.

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Proceedings of Mine Water Solutions 2018 – June 2018

Carlo Cooper, MineBridge Software; Jaco Grobler, Consultant; Miguel Palape Reyes, MineBridge Software

This paper discusses how GoldSim and Muk3D have been integrated allowing for 3D tailings deposition to be incorporated into an existing water balance model. The difference in results between the 2D models for a TSF used in GoldSim and the same models run using a 3D deposition model are explored, and advantages and limitations of this approach are discussed.

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Proceedings of Mine Water Solutions 2018 – June 2018

Paul Ferguson, Christoph Wels, and Alexander Trapp, Robertson GeoConsultants; Nicole Pesonen, Nyrstar Myra Falls

This paper will describe Robertson GeoConsultants' conceptual load balance model and a numerical load balance model that was developed with the software GoldSim. The numerical model was calibrated to daily zinc (Zn) loads in Myra Creek from 2012 to mid-2016, and water quality data was collected from within the mine site. Once calibrated, the model was used to simulate the improvement in water quality conditions in Myra Creek during the future operation of the Lynx Seepage Interception System (SIS) and after the Old TDF has been closed and the Lynx TDF berm has been raised to its final height and covered.

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11th ICARD | IMWA | WISA MWD 2018 Conference – Risk to Opportunity, Pretoria, South Africa – January 2018

Brent C. Johnson, Pamela Rohal, and Ted Eary

Mining operators strive to improve their tools for decision-making about water management to minimize risks and costs related to water quantity and quality issues. These issues are typically interrelated and complex such that interpretation and prediction of system dynamics requires implementation of innovative approaches that make use of observed data and fundamental hydrochemical concepts. We have developed an approach that couples the dynamic systems modelling framework of GoldSim with the geochemical reaction simulation capabilities of PHREEQC as described by Eary (2007). The approach utilizes a dynamic link library (DLL) code to handshake and transfer data between the two programs at every model timestep.

The coupled GoldSim-PHREEQC approach simulates mixing and reactions taking place at key mixing points along flow paths and at key water storage locations (e.g., ponds, tanks, pit lakes). Empirical factors affecting chemical loads can be calibrated to observed flows and chemistry at multiple locations and then used for predicting future water quality as operating and environmental conditions change.

Including geochemical reactions at each model time-step provides an efficient approach for applying a thermodynamic framework for understanding important geochemical processes that affect water chemistry. The approach also identifies the subset of reaction processes that may not be well explained by thermodynamic-based calculations and require empirical adjustment and time periods in response to events such as facility shut downs, climate events, and closure and remediation. The resulting calibrated model can be used to challenge our understanding of the reactions that are attenuating or not attenuating solutes at various site locations and to help understand, predict, and manage water quality going forward.

This modelling approach was applied to a proposed mine site in the northern Michigan (U.S.A.) to simulate various stages of operational and closure conditions to predict the quality of water that will require treatment. The model provided an efficient approach for making robust predictions of treatment requirements in terms of both water quality and quantity as a function of mine operations and closure.

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11th ICARD | IMWA | WISA MWD 2018 Conference – Risk to Opportunity, Pretoria, South Africa – January 2018

Nick Martin and Michael Gabora

A current limitation in modelling pit lake evolution from active mining through closure to optimise management strategies is the separation between physical process and operational modelling tools. To overcome this limitation, a GoldSim water balance model of pit operations is dynamically coupled with a FEFLOW, physically-based, model of groundwater inflow to the pit. This approach can be used as part of mine project planning to provide robust estimates of conditions at closure, including an improved representation of the pit lake system physical response, closure cost analysis, and risk assessment through uncertainty analysis.

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Journal of Hydrology – June 2017

Valérie Plagnes, Areva Resources Canada and Sorbonne Universités; Brad Schmid, University of Saskatchewan; Brett Mitchell and Ian Judd-Henrey, Areva Resources Canada

A water balance model was developed to forecast the management strategy of a uranium mill effluent system, located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Mining and milling operations, such as pit dewatering or treated effluent release, can potentially influence the hydrology and the water quality downstream of the operations. This study presents the methodology used to predict water volumes and water quality discharging downstream in surface water bodies. A compartment model representing the three subsequent lakes included in the management system was set up using the software GoldSim. The water balance allows predicting lake volumes at the daily time step. A mass balance model developed for conservative elements was also developed and allows validating the proportions of inputs and outputs issued from the water balance model. This model was then used as predictive tool to evaluate the impact of different scenarios of effluents management on volumes and chemistry of surface water for short and longer time periods. An additional significant benefit of this model is that it can be used as an input for geochemical modelling to predict the concentrations of all constituents of concern in the receiving surface water.

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Report prepared by CRL Energy Ltd – March 2016

James Pope, Aaron Dutton, CRL Energy Ltd

GoldSim was used to model the discharge from the Te Kuha mine site into surrounding environment after water treatment for total suspended sediment. The model utilises climate data collected at the mine site, long term climate data from Westport, surface and groundwater data collected at the mine site as well as geochemical data collected through column leach tests. A relationship between measured data from the site and long term climate data has been established that enables the long term data to be used as input for the GoldSim model. This means that the surface water conditions on site can be adequately simulated to enable sizing of infrastructure and predict downstream impacts. The GoldSim model is calibrated against rainfall runoff data collected in Camp Creek with good agreement between modelled and measured data. Therefore the model will generate surface water flows that represent the intensity and variability likely on the Te Kuha mine site.

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Proceedings IMWA 2016, Freiberg/Germany – January 2016

Geoff Beale, Schlumberger; Toddy Syaifullah and Dadang Saepulloh, Rio Tinto; Stuart Daley, Schlumberger

Argyle Diamond Mine is situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. Block-cave mining is ongoing below the mined-out South Bowl pit. In 2014, two major rainfall events occurred: 175 mm falling in 48hrs on 15th-16th January; and 213 mm falling in 72hrs on 6th-8th February. The January 2014 rainfall event caused a short term peak mine inflow of 500 L/s, whilst the February 2014 event caused a peak inflow of 1200 L/s. A rainfall-runoff-frequency model was created to assess runoff volumes reaching the base of the pit. This was coupled with a numerical flow model developed to assess the passage of water from the pit floor to the mine extraction level. The model incorporated rock mass hydro-geomechanical changes based upon the predicted future Life of Mine cave zone propagation. The coupled model was calibrated to the two major 2014 runoff events. The model was then used to simulate a series of potential future rainfall-runoff events and future underground inflows. The analysis was used to develop a Trigger Action and Reponse Plan (TARP) for the future flood management.

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Appendix L of the Black Butte Copper Project Mine Operating Permit Application – December 2015

Mediha Hodzic, Knight Piesold Consulting

The Black Butte Copper Project is a proposed underground copper mine located approximately 32 km north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana. An update to the life-of-mine site wide water balance model has been completed by Knight Piésold (KP) to incorporate the transfer of surface water from the Process Water Pond and the Cemented Tailings Facility to the Water Treatment Plant, with subsequent treatment and release to the environment. Surface water includes direct precipitation on mine facilities, as well as runoff contributing to mine facilities. This letter details the model objectives, parameters, assumptions, and results.

The model was developed using the GoldSim© modeling platform. Deterministic and stochastic approaches were used, and 15 years were modeled including two pre-production years and 13 years of operations.

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Report prepared for Cameco Australia Pty Ltd – June 2015

Nazuha Rosli, URS

This report presents the results of the Water Balance modelling for the proposed Yeelirrie Project, which supports the Public Environmental Approval (PER) submission process, aimed to validate the performance of the Project water management strategy. The water balance developed for this project was first developed using GoldSiom by URS in 2011 and has since been updated to reflect changes to the proposed mine plan.

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PhD Dissertation, University of Alberta – January 2015

Nicholas A Beier

This research aims to assist in the assessment of tailings management technologies through the development of a dynamic simulation model. The developed model (TMSim) incorporates the mine plan, various stages of dewatering including classification, pre- and post-deposition dewatering, and an impoundment material balance including tailings, process water, construction material and capping materials. GoldSim was used as the "simulation engine" for the model. It chosen as the simulation package for TMSim because of its ability to simulate dynamic systems such as a tailings system, balance of computational power with ease of use, and other features such as ability to link with external software. The modeling approach adopted, using GoldSim, will assist the planner to understand the TMS and its boundaries, identify key variables and clarify complex interrelationships.

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Thesis Paper, UMI Dissertations Publishing – January 2014

Wade, Lisa, Montana Tech of the University of Montana

This is a Thesis, describing the research and development of a probabilistic water budget model for a mining and milling operation using GoldSim. The model incorporates climate data, well water supply, dewatering and water entrainment within a tailings storage facility. The issues revealed by the GoldSim model results were of critical importance and their identification will result in financial savings, as well as the avoidance of any emergency or crisis situations with respect to environmental management of water and tailings at the project.

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Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation – January 2014

Burbano, Arturo; Sansom, Stephanie; Kinser, Karla; Rozas, Jose; Corser, Pat

A systematic approach was utilized to design a water treatment plant to treat tailings water at a copper mine in northern Perú. Water to support the mine operation was stored in a tailings pond, which needed to maintain a maximum level to ensure dam stability and avoid overflows of untreated water. The latter are likely to occur during times of excessive precipitation and need to be avoided at all cost, as they may threaten a nearby river used by the surrounding communities for drinking water supply. A GoldSim water balance model provided an estimate of the required design flow to build a plant that would avoid these issues, and process modeling facilitated definition of the treatment requirements to meet the stringent discharge regulations, especially for sulfate, calcium and nitrite. A robust and reliable treatment system including RO membranes was subsequently designed around the model results and incorporated sufficient flexibility to meet compliance of the upcoming regulations even under extreme water quality conditions.

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Project Report, Casino Mining Corporation – December 2013

Source Environmental Associates, Inc.

A site-wide water quality model was developed for a proposed Mining Project. The model simulates water quality in the mine discharge and receiving environment. The water quality model is also used as a planning tool to help select water quality mitigations. The water quality model was built within the GoldSim modelling platform, and was run for a simulation timeline of 200 years and includes 29 water quality parameters.

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EIS Water Balance Modeling Report, Final - Revision 0 – November 2013

S. Buckley, Sinclair Knight Merz

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was commissioned by BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance to prepare water balance modelling to support the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in association with the proposed Red Hill Mining Lease. The study was undertaken using a water balance model developed for the Goonyella Riverside and Broadmeadow mine complex operation using GoldSim. This study builds on the operational model to provide input to the EIS.

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Mine Water Management and Treatment, Kuopio, Finland – September 2013

Seth Mueller, Boliden Mineral AB

A mine water management plan was developed to assist with regulatory permitting and planning for a mine in Finland. GoldSim was used to simulate the water management from pre-feasibility through closure. The model accounts for pre and post mining conditions, various water demands and recycling, extreme climate events, and impacts on water quality. The model takes advantage of GoldSim's powerful dynamic and probabilistic functionality to optimize mine operations under uncertain conditions.

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Appendix 1, Surface Water Assessment prepared by GHD Australia Pty Ltd. for Vista Gold Australia Pty Ltd – May 2013

Tetra Tech

A GoldSim model was developed to simulate the performance of a water containment system during pre-production, production, closure and post-closure of the mine's life cycle. The water balance includes climate and runoff, site seepage and other losses, tailings reclaim water, water demands, water balance logic, water supplies and discharge to the environment. This was all simulated under varying conditions and rules as the mine facilities change during its life cycle.

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Water Balance Report for the Minyango Project – April 2013

WRM Water and Environment Pty Ltd.

WRM Water and Environment Pty Ltd was commissioned to complete a water balance assessment as part of an EIS for the Minyango Project. The water balance, which includes water supplies, demands, and storages over the life of the mine, was developed using GoldSim. The model dynamically simulates the mine operations and accounts for site water volumes and quality on a daily time step.

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Reliable Mine Water Technology, IMWA; Golden CO USA – January 2013

Tina Pint, Peter Hinck, Barr Engineering Company

An integrated source-to-receptor model for assessing potential project-wide water impacts can save time and money by facilitating rapid evaluation of multiple design options. GoldSim was used to develop an integrated source-to-receptor model for a mine site in northern Minnesota and used to evaluate various mine closure options during the mine planning process.

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Mini-dissertation, North-West University – October 2012

K.C. de Waard, J.H. Stander, Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University

A case study was used to determine what information and instruments will be required at a gold mine to implement the Waste Discharge Charge System (WDCS). The determining of the point and diffuse discharges require multidisciplinary studies with the integration of different spheres of the environment. To assist with this a GoldSim model was developed. The main function of the model was to determine the seepage rates per day from pollution sources using available information. The seepage rates and water quality data were used to determine waste loads discharged to the environment.

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Proceedings of the 9th International Mine Water Conference, Oviedo, Spain – February 2012

Juan Luis Delgado, Lignitos de Meirama, SA

This paper describes a model built to evaluate closure options for a coal mine, taking into account possible water quality issues.

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2011 International Applied Reliability Symposium, North America: San Diego, California – June 2011

Damien Willans

The design, construction and operation of large-scale resource projects are now subject to extreme levels of competition and cost, with many projects running into billions of dollars. For this reason, resource companies, bankers and every participant in the design train are now compelled to understand every aspect of risk to be undertaken, usually well before the project becomes a reality. A key element of the design process is knowing if the plant can actually produce the required output – along with a clear understanding where the areas of potential risk might be. Rather than ignoring the reality of failure effects or, more commonly, de-rating the entire design by some “accepted” operating availability number and trying to justify it, companies are now turning to plant reliability modeling up-front to prove more efficient designs, even with the uncertainties of failures well before plant startup. The concept of calculating “throughput” provides an absolute plant (design) model output for given inputs, by directly linking plant flows and consequences to the equipment availability. This presentation describes a project recently undertaken, including the project background, modeling stages and processes, and the successful outcomes provided for one client who is currently undertaking a very large-scale resource investment.

This presentation describes how GoldSim and the Reliability Module were used to simulate the throughput of an alumina refinery, accounting for failures and preventive maintenance schemes, to support facility design.

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Mine Water – Managing the Challenges, IMWA; Aachen, Germany – January 2011

Gareth Digges La Touche, Helen Culshaw, Richard Lansley, Golder Associates (UK) Ltd

Tailings Management Facilities represent a hazard to the down gradient surface water and groundwater environment. The assessment of the risks such facilities pose to the water environment is an important issue for mine closure, particularly when the potential for an impact on the water environment has been identified. This paper will describe the application of probabilistic simulation in quantitative analytical models to assess the risks where confidence in modelled outcomes may otherwise be inhibited due to limited environmental data. The application of probabilistic modelling will be illustrated through case studies illustrating the use of probabilistic risk assessment to appraise differing closure and remediation strategies for a tailings management facility and the use of such tools to quantify the level of uncertainty in the assessment of risk.

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Mine Water and Innovative Thinking, IMWA, Wolkersdorfer. Ch. and Freund, A., p 313-316, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada – January 2010

Brent Usher, Roald Strand, Chris Strachotta and Jim Jackson

Prediction of water quality across different components of a mine site is often a challenging proposition, due to both the technical challenges of water quality modelling and the variability of available data. A methodology of integrating site-specific mine waste characterization results and minewater balances through the use of fundamental considerations and empirically-derived constraints to predict water quality from mine waste sources has been developed. The adoption of GoldSim as visual interface software with capacity for matrix calculations has facilitated the development of linked water quality sub-models for different mine facilities. Fundamental and observed geochemical responses from on-site monitoring, field kinetic tests and laboratory data have been incorporated with Phreeqc and geochemists Workbench modelling to identify the most important geochemical processes across the mine site. Based on the static geochemical data to populate the models, the determined geochemical generation rates, the site specific geochemical properties and the mine-site water balance, the GoldSim platform has been used to realise the conceptual understanding of each aspect and construct a framework to provide mine scale water quality projections. In this way, models have been built to assist in a range of situations from a large operating poly-metallic open cut mine to assess mine waste and mine water management alternatives to determination of likely water quality at a proposed large mine in a tropical environment.

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Presentation at Tailings and Mine Waste '08, Vail, CO – October 2008

Ted Eary, Jody Eshleman, Ryan Jakubowski and Andrew Watson, MWH

This presentation describes the use of decision-support models for evaluating closure alternatives for pit lakes.

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10th International Mine Water Association Congress – June 2008

Przemek Nalecki and Mike Gowan, Golder Associates

This paper presents a holistic approach to mine water management. The proposed approach provides a framework and methodology for integrating different components of mine water infrastructure by explicitly representing the relationships, feedback mechanisms and uncertainties about the conditions and processes involved, using a dynamic, probabilistic simulation method.

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Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management (ICEM) – September 2007

R. Kahnt and T. Metschies

Uranium mining and milling continuing from the early 1960s until 1990 close to the town of Seelingstädt in Eastern Germany resulted in 4 large tailings impoundments. Leakage from these tailings impoundments enters the underlying aquifers and is discharged into surface water streams. High concentration of salts, uranium and several heavy metals are released from the tailings. A compartment model representing the tailings impoundments and the surrounding aquifers for the calculation of contaminant release and transport was set up using GoldSim. This compartment model describes the time dependent hydraulic conditions within the tailings and the surrounding aquifers taking into account hydraulic and geotechnical processes influencing the hydraulic properties of the tailings material. A simple geochemical approach taking into account sorption processes as well as retardation by applying a kd-approach was also implemented. The model was used to predict the effect of various remediation scenarios in a fast and traceable way.

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Southwest Hydrology – July 2006

Charlie Voss, Golder Associates; Henri Letient, Compania Minera Antamina S.A.

This article describes the GoldSim model of the Antamina mine that was created to allow different water management strategies to be evaluated to ensure that they would meet regulatory constraints

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Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD), St. Louis, MO – March 2006

Tobias Puhlmann, Juliana Esper, and Rodrigo Dutra Amaral, Kinross Gold Corporation; Charles Voss, Golder Associates

This paper describes a site wide water model of the Rio Paracatu Mineração that was developed to a) evaluate ways to optimize the operation of the existing water management system and b) evaluate alternative water infrastructure and water supply options that would meet the requirements of future mine expansions.

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