Process Water Management Strategy

ERA's Process Water Management Strategy is critical for maximising production and enabling progress on new projects, as well as allowing the closure of the now exhausted Pit 1, which has been used to store tailings and process water.

Process water is water that has come into contact with the uranium extraction process and is of a quality that requires containment within the Tailings Storage facility and Pit 1.

Process water inventories are reduced by passive evaporation or by treatment through ERA's high density sludge (HDS) process water treatment plant.

The retrofitted water treatment plant has a capacity of up to 1.5 megalitres per day. Treated water can be released into ERA's wetland water polishing systems. 

ERA plans to install a brine concentrator to treat process water and reduce the current process water inventory over the life of the Ranger mine.

This brine concentrator permeate will meet water quality requirements for release into ERA's constructed wetland system.

It is envisaged that the brine concentrator will be operational in 2013.