Treat water underground to pump less energy

Now, thanks to the Mudwizard® - the mud magician -, a technology developed by the Abitibi-based company Technosub, the Laronde mine avoids up to 11 hours of pumping per day, which has reduced consumption of 3000 megawatt hours of electricity in one year. "On average, with the Mudwizard®, the mine treats 500 gallons of mud per minute, from 15 to 16 hours per day," explains Philippe Trudel. Or nearly 1.8 million liters of muddy water per day.

 

The whole process now takes place underground. In a large settling tank, the waste present in the wastewater agglomerates at the bottom and on the surface, as if by magic. Thus cleaned, the water can then be recirculated in the galleries.

 

It's magic, not toxic

 

The Mudwizard® owes its magic name to its disconcerting simplicity and efficiency. "It's a pellet that we put in a basket and it clarifies the water by binding the suspended matter," explains Patrick Martel, vice-president of innovations and integrated solutions at Technosub. The composition of the tablets varies according to the type of water to be treated. Thus, those which are based on potato and corn allow organic sludge to be treated. Technosub also uses tree root extracts in certain pellets intended for a mine in Ecuador which must purify sludge containing laterite, a red rock rich in iron and alumina.

At Agnico Eagle, the pellets are rather made from a chemical mixture, "but not toxic", insists Patrick Martel. “For us, it was one of the most important criteria. In a mine, you do not control the use. Anyone can do just about anything with our product. If a miner decides to put 10 times more lozenges in the morning to save a few minutes by not coming back in the day, we just overdosed and we especially do not want to make the water toxic. "

 

Even less energy

 

At the Laronde mine, the first Mudwizard® station was installed in 2015, at 2150 m underground. In view of the convincing results, a second one was installed in 2017, at 2,840 m, and a third will be done in 2020. In addition to energy savings, the technology extends the service life and efficiency of the pumps. "A pump designed to slurry mud is generally very inefficient and consumes a lot of energy," says Patrick Martel.

 

At the scale of the Laronde mine, the energy reduction remains marginal overall: it represents approximately 1% of all the energy consumed on site. On the other hand, the potential for reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) will be significant for mines operated in the Far North and everywhere in the world where electricity is produced from fossil fuels. The Mudwizard® is for example used by the Ekati diamond mine, located at Lac de Gras, in the Northwest Territories. "It is probably a full-time diesel generator that will be shut down," illustrates Patrick Martel. It is not just the GHGs of the generator that we will avoid, but also those produced to bring the fuel there. "

 

Eureka in the spa!

 

The Mudwizard® has not finished doing magic tricks. Originally designed for mining, the concept is now exported to treat all kinds of sludge in France, Australia, Finland, Mexico, Ecuador, the United States and elsewhere in Canada. At a construction site in Oakville, a suburb of Toronto, around ten daily truck trips were eliminated thanks to the treatment of sludge directly underground. "Once the water has been removed, the mud is much denser and therefore easier to manage," explains Patrick Martel, who spent his eureka moment soaking in a spa.

 

“I was with my son and asked him to go get some chlorine tablets. He brought the jar, put two pellets in the water, and said, "It's a breeze, dad!" This is where the development of the technology began. If my sons can do it, miners can do it underground. A vein he did well to dig.

 

In November 2019, Mudwizard® was selected by the Solar Impulse foundation as a solution that contributes to protecting the environment while contributing to the economy. This foundation, set up by the Swiss Bertrand Piccard (the first man to go around the world in a balloon), seeks to grant a label to 1000 solutions worldwide and the Mudwizard® is one of the first 300 already accredited.