Sustainable water provider solutions provider Talbot and Sibanye-Stillwater have entered into an innovative lease-to-own arrangement to advance the Miner’s complete independence from municipal water sources

The multi-national mining and metals processing group aims to materially reduce its reliance on externally-supplied potable water by 90% by 2030 at its South African (SA) gold operations.

A project that has taken Sibanye-Stillwater a step closer to achieving this goal is Talbot’s construction, operation, and maintenance of a multi-technology water treatment plant at the company’s deep-level Kloof Mine operations on the Witwatersrand goldfields, west of Johannesburg.

“Apart from advising large industrial users on how they can bolster their resilience against critical water shortages, supply and quality constraints, we build, operate and maintain plants on a lease-to-own basis,” says Talbot’s Associate Director: Optimisation and Management, Perina Bridgmohan.

The four-megalitre-per-day plant at the Kloof operation is at the center of a contractual arrangement that sees Talbot convert mineral-rich water into a potable product, which is then sold back to the site at a fraction of the cost that it currently pays, for municipal-supplied water.

To date, the operation has saved R11 million on water tariffs over a 23-month period, and reduced its dependence on the municipal grid by 29%.

Water is essential for drilling, blasting, milling, processing, cooling and re-mining of tailings facilities, all of which take place in water-stressed environments at Sibanye-Stillwater’s SA operations.

“Water is a finite resource and most communities in South Africa face water scarcity or stress. By tapping into non-conventional sources, we help preserve water for other essential uses and growing urban development,” says the company’s Superintendent for Strategic environmental projects, Quinton Paulse.

Turning a water liability into an opportunity

Unlike the group’s SA platinum group metals (PGM) operations in the parched North- West province, mines on the highveld goldfields overlain by dolomitic aquifers and are largely water-positive.

“This requires us to pump large volumes of ingress water – often more than double our requirements – from deep underground workings,” says Paulse.

The Witwatersrand basin boasts reserves that are often located several kilometers below the surface. Miners must pump out groundwater to both access gold-bearing rock and create a dry, safe environment for operations to continue.

While this is an expensive and energy-intensive process, the presence of subterranean water has gone from being a liability to an invaluable asset, particularly when one considers the company’s reliance on this precious resource in an environment increasingly characterised by water scarcity and insecurity. Entrenching fundamental water resource management principles, the project further harnesses alternative water sources advocating the Group’s goal to conserve natural resources and its commitment to supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – in this case, Goal 6: Water and Sanitation for All.

“Projects like the one at Kloof enable us to leverage excess water groundwater by purifying it and putting it back into the cycle. More importantly, we considerably lessen our risk of negatively impacting already water-stressed communities,” says Paulse.

Moreover, it mitigates the risk of infrastructure-related water supply disruptions while generating savings on rising water tariffs. From a sustainability standpoint, the project endorses equitable water access by allowing industrial development, without eroding the availability of water for domestic uses, and builds an added measure of confidence for water security assurance, which is becoming increasingly pertinent during conditions of unprecedented climatic variability.

“Partnerships like the one we enjoy with Sibanye-Stillwater are attractive to large water users as they can enjoy the benefits of high-quality water treatment without incurring up-front capital costs,” says Bridgmohan.

This, she says, gives them the assurance that they will be investing in facilities that will deliver their intended results.

“It is a solution that removes the risk; the client only pays for the water it receives and has the option to take ownership of the asset once it is absolutely assured of its efficacy and fitness for the purpose at the end of the contract period,” she adds.

A second phase, says Paulse, will take Kloof up to between 85% to 95% water independence, building on Sibanye-Stillwater’s SA gold operation’s current level of 64%.

“As a group that is passionate about environmental stewardship, we are delighted to support Sibanye-Stillwater in its ambitious drive towards water independence. By doing so, this partnership helps to protect our most precious and undervalued resource,” Bridgmohan concludes.