Mine Dewatering at Mount Lyell, the 1980Æs and Beyond

Mining operations have been carried out at Mt. Lyell for the past century. Until the 1970's the location of the mines in relation to the surface topography has enabled the mines to drain their copious inflows of water by gravity. Deeper mining has forced the Company to undertake pumping of increasing inflows of water. A major pumping facility is being established near the base of the known ore reserves with a view to serving the future requirements of the mines. The system has a design capacity of 600 litres per second. Run of mine water will be treated in Vertical Flow Settlers to produce clear water and thickened mud, each of which will be disposed of separately. The clear water will be pumped by six 1000 kW conven- tional centrifugal pumps. The thickened mud will be removed by a Hydraulic Displacement System. The rising mains for both the mud and the clear water are stainless steel cased bore- holes.