- Alicia Brown, Elis Smedley & Christopher Gwynne, GHD
DOWNLOAD CONFERENCE PAPER - 46-alicia-brown
Liquid waste management is often overlooked during the early stages of mining design because it is a downstream design element. Unsustainable management and the poor design of facilities can lead to environmental pollution, additional capital and operational costs, wasted time and the exacerbation of other operational problems. The solution to developing sustainable liquid waste management is a strategic and timely decision making process. Stepping through the pre-feasibility, feasibility and definition phases of mine establishment, this paper examines when and with what level of detail decisions need to be implemented to ensure integrated, cost effective and environmentally viable solutions to liquid waste management. Three predominant barriers to effective liquid waste management are identified; 1. Key project decisions are made without consideration of a liquid waste strategy, 2. There is an ad hoc approach to waste management (because there is no one person or team that is allocated that responsibility) and 3. The solutions are not tailored to the project environment. Practical solutions for establishing a liquid waste management strategy include embedding environmental engineering teams into projects, conducting sustainability design reviews and designing for compliance. At a project specific level, practical methods of liquid waste management such as drainage design and spill management are identified in the context of project phases.
BIOS:
Alicia Brown has three years experience working as an environmental engineer for GHD. Alicia played a key role in homogenising GHD’s approach to odour assessment and has gained experience in a broad range of environmental disciplines, ranging from contaminated site assessments to environmental approvals. More recently, she has focussed on pollution management for mining and heavy industry, undertaking the engineering design of bunding systems, oily water treatment facilities and integrated liquid waste treatment and disposal processes. dustry.
Elis Smedley has 3 years experience within GHD working within the environment group. He has worked on a range of projects including projects related to water quality, water and oily water treatment, drainage design, sustainable design review, land capability assessment and waste management.
His previous experience in waste reuse includes site assessment of an effluent irrigated woodlot in Walpole, WA; assessment of potential water savings under various levels of re-use for a land development in Preston Beach, WA; developing a solid and liquid waste management strategy for BHP’s RGP-6 expansion project; and designing oily water reuse facilities for several minesites within Western Australia. He has undertaken waste assessment projects for a range of clients, including Chevron, Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Iluka, Dampier Salt and BHP.
Christopher Gwynne has had a broad range of experience with air, soil and water contamination. He has specialist skills in the areas of investigation design, data collection and analysis, remediation design and facilities auditing. He has conducted and managed jobs in a wide variety of fields including OH&S monitoring and audits, ambient and industrial air quality assessment, construction/demolition environmental management, pollution investigation, industrial and wastewater odour assessment, environmental risk assessment and environmental auditing. Christopher has experience working in a wide range of industries including government, mining, mineral processing, agriculture, wastewater and railways.