Goro Nickel Mine Effluent Polishing Plant, New Caledonia
The Client
Goro Nickel S.A.
Goro Nickel S.A., the project company for the Goro Nickel-Cobalt, is located on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of the Republic of France.
It is owned in majority by Canada-based Inco, a primary metals company employing 10,000 people around the world and a leading international producer of nickel. The expected annual capacity of the Goro project should reach about 60,000 metric tonnes of nickel after initial production.
The Client's Needs
New Caledonia, an overseas territory of the French republic in the Pacific, has one of the world's largest coral reef. Stringent requirements are in place to protect coral life and fragile marine ecosystems from industries.
A crucial aspect of the Goro Nickel project is to ensure that the process discharge won’t harm the sensitive marine ecosystem.
The Goro project exert minimal impact on the environment. Instead of marine tailings disposal, it uses a more expensive but environmentally preferable land disposal system. An on-site experimental nursery has been developed to ensure that all re-vegetation of mining and construction areas is compatible with indigenous species.
Veolia's Solution
Veolia Water Technologies was awarded its 3rd project from Goro Nickel for the Design & Supply of an Effluent Polishing Plant at the existing Goro Nickel Processing plant.
Veolia designed & supplied an Actidisk® process, a very efficient and compact process which combines Actiflo® Clarification followed by Hydrotech® Discfilters. The ActiDisk® process eliminates the risk of gypsum scale discharged into the ecosystem.
The capacity ranges from 8 up to 70 ML/day to suit Goro Nickel’s requirements, as per the upstream nickel processing plant.
The Effluent Polishing Plant removes suspended solids coming from the acidic wastewater neutralisation plant and the conventional clarifiers and provides high quality treated water suitable for discharge in to the sea.