Pumping the polluted water from mines· Page 3

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Groover
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11 years ago

#41

Ahh.. Thanks Morlock.

Also I've just read the link to the BBC news website on the OP. I see the water is being pumped from over 200' below surface, then treated on site.

Now I get it! 🙂

I think we're where I thought we were

Knocker
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11 years ago

#42

I'm not sure of the adits height above sea level but I doubt its much more than 10 - 15 metres. You would need ne heck of a syphon pipe to shift the volume of water

Ty Gwyn
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11 years ago

#43

Don`t know if any of you boy`s know were the Darrel Colliery was in Crynant,a Smallmine perched on the side of the mountain ,just inside the Forestry,it had around 100yds of shute to bring the coal down to the bottom surface,
We had a siphon working there,started up a small blast rotary pump,and once the water was flowing well out through the pipe on the bottom surface,the blast was turned off and the siphon kicked in,
It was the big drop that made this siphon work so well,not that it lifted more than 20ft,but with the big drop i dare say it would have lifted a fair bit more.

wheldale
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11 years ago

#44

"Ty Gwyn" wrote:
I would`nt worry to much about the polluted water in the Mine`s,before long they will be tankering and piping it across the country to feed the fracking well`s,as there ain`t enough clean water around for that job.

It's funny that fracking has been mentioned. I read recently about a process that has been developed using acid mine water. Acid mine water reacts with fracking flow back water to solidify the radioactive waste in the fracking water. As the (low level) radioactive waste forms as a solid waste it can then be easily removed and disposed of safely.

Who knows maybe the acid mine water will have some uses after all??

Simon M
50.2% (Neutral)
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11 years ago

#45

That's it boys, open up those shafts and get the pumps installed, we have a fortune to be made here.

J25GTi
50.2% (Neutral)
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11 years ago

#46

It all depends if the "not in my back yard" benders get their way!

Simon M
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11 years ago

#47

It must cost a lot of money to pump the water out. This might be a silly question, but here goes..

Why can't the water be syphoned out?

Quote:

The real issue is geology and depth of water as to syphon it out it has to be near the surface and its water level that is crucial. Get contaminated mine water too near the surface and it enters the drinking water supplies and even crops.

Manicminer
50.2% (Neutral)
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11 years ago

#48

"Simon M" wrote:
It must cost a lot of money to pump the water out. This might be a silly question, but here goes..

Why can't the water be syphoned out?

Quote:

The real issue is geology and depth of water as to syphon it out it has to be near the surface and its water level that is crucial. Get contaminated mine water too near the surface and it enters the drinking water supplies and even crops.

You can only syphon to max depth of 10 M or 32 feet.
It would be cheaper long term to reopen the adit level and leave the water to drain out naturally and build the treatment plant at a convenient point downstream and pipe the water by gravity from the adit entrance.
Gold is where you find it

Groover
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Newbie

11 years ago

#49

Or simply send the water from the adit down a big pipe right down to the sea, maybe out a few miles, and let the plankton bloom on that lovely iron-rich water. It can't be any more polluting than those black smokers in the ocean deeps..

Also, as a bonus, the extra plankton will provide more oxygen to the Earth's atmosphere as well as attracting more basking sharks to eat the plankton. People love basking sharks. Surely even the greenies could see the logic!:flowers:

I think we're where I thought we were

Drillbilly.
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Newbie

11 years ago

#50

The Jane adit would require a monster amount of work to make it fit to flow. It is not in a good condition and there are several structures which cross is (and drain into it). In order for anything to happen, whoever it is would have to decide who owns it....which isn't likely to happen in a rush. Then they'd have to go down and undo all the work that the concrete works have done covertly expanding their operation via bits of left over concrete over the original adit portal location. That would probably involve legal work with them saying "We've been here long enough, it's ours and you can't dig it up"

That's before you've got anyone to go in there and look at the potentially backed up water, nasty blockages and state of the local egresses. It could be an option to allow it to flow through wellington, but that's owned by a completely different lot.

Ergo, it will continue the way it is.

The government can afford to ***** £33 million a day (net) on the EU, so a few million a year on pumping some dirty water is mere pennies.

Since the tailings dam is not lined, I imagine there is some exciting sh t percolating through into Basset Graze mine. The water in the adit could still be quite nasty. All the lab gunge and stuff from Wardell and SGS ends up on the tailings dam.