01
Key Developments
Free
Collahuasi desalination permit ruling reopens community and marine review
What's New? Chile’s Second Environmental Tribunal overturned Collahuasi’s 2021 environmental authorization over deficiencies in assessing community and marine impacts. The desalination plant is nearly complete, while alternative water supplies continue to support production.
Why It Matters: The ruling separates construction progress from regulatory certainty. It places copper production, sunk desalination investment, and long-term water security at risk pending further environmental review, community evidence, and stakeholder engagement.
What's Next? Collahuasi is seeking clarification from the Tribunal and SEA. Operators should monitor the required reassessment, alternative water availability, revised marine safeguards, consultation findings, and any new operating conditions or compliance deadlines.
Why It Matters: The ruling separates construction progress from regulatory certainty. It places copper production, sunk desalination investment, and long-term water security at risk pending further environmental review, community evidence, and stakeholder engagement.
What's Next? Collahuasi is seeking clarification from the Tribunal and SEA. Operators should monitor the required reassessment, alternative water availability, revised marine safeguards, consultation findings, and any new operating conditions or compliance deadlines.
British Columbia moves major-mine discharge applications into MineSpace
What's New? British Columbia required all Environmental Management Act permit applications for major mines to be submitted through MineSpace from 4 May 2026. Regional mines continue using the existing submission process unchanged.
Why It Matters: The digital platform formalises water-management evidence at the application stage. It influences permit timelines, treatment design, monitoring plans, consultant coordination, and the cost of incomplete or inconsistent submissions.
What's Next? Proponents should align discharge factors, treatment descriptions, infrastructure maps, and monitoring plans before pre-application review. Early preparation can reduce redesign, duplicate studies, regulatory queries, and multi-year authorization delays.
Why It Matters: The digital platform formalises water-management evidence at the application stage. It influences permit timelines, treatment design, monitoring plans, consultant coordination, and the cost of incomplete or inconsistent submissions.
What's Next? Proponents should align discharge factors, treatment descriptions, infrastructure maps, and monitoring plans before pre-application review. Early preparation can reduce redesign, duplicate studies, regulatory queries, and multi-year authorization delays.
New Liberty pollution record turns water evidence into supply-chain risk
What's New? AP reporting documented repeated cyanide, arsenic, and copper releases at Bea Mountain’s New Liberty gold operation using regulator records, community evidence, expert analysis, and company responses from Liberia.
Why It Matters: Weak discharge controls now threaten licence durability, refinery relationships, community relocation commitments, and confidence in regulatory oversight. The uncertainty also extends to buyers reliant on responsibly sourced gold supply chains.
What's Next? Reviewers should seek current monitoring data, independent tailings verification, remediation milestones, and the planned 2026 follow-up assessment by downstream refiner MKS PAMP. Public findings should guide any further operational action.
Why It Matters: Weak discharge controls now threaten licence durability, refinery relationships, community relocation commitments, and confidence in regulatory oversight. The uncertainty also extends to buyers reliant on responsibly sourced gold supply chains.
What's Next? Reviewers should seek current monitoring data, independent tailings verification, remediation milestones, and the planned 2026 follow-up assessment by downstream refiner MKS PAMP. Public findings should guide any further operational action.
02
Technology Spotlight
Free
ATA® tailings dewatering moves from pilot work to a mine-scale contract
What It Does: Clean TeQ Water will install a single-train ATA® plant at Rasp Mine. Polymer-assisted separation will produce stackable tailings, recover process water, and replace the site's throughput-constrained solar-drying process at commercial scale.
Why It Matters: The system integrates water recovery with production throughput and in-pit tailings placement. It reduces reliance on weather while lowering the capital barrier to filtered-tailings disposal and recycled process-water infrastructure.
Strategic Impact: Clean TeQ Water designed the plant to process 750,000 tonnes of dry solids annually and is targeting practical completion in 2027. Commissioning will assess moisture content, water recovery, operating costs, and stacking performance.
Why It Matters: The system integrates water recovery with production throughput and in-pit tailings placement. It reduces reliance on weather while lowering the capital barrier to filtered-tailings disposal and recycled process-water infrastructure.
Strategic Impact: Clean TeQ Water designed the plant to process 750,000 tonnes of dry solids annually and is targeting practical completion in 2027. Commissioning will assess moisture content, water recovery, operating costs, and stacking performance.
Cycloned-tailings dewatering targets water recovery and dam-material performance
What It Does: Metso presented dewatering screens that remove residual ultrafines from cycloned tailings before immediate compaction. The process prepares recovered sand for tailings-wall construction while returning water directly to the process circuit.
Why It Matters: The approach combines process-water recovery with improved embankment permeability and construction quality. It shifts dewatering from a disposal step to a tailings-stability measure that can influence permitting, assurance, and closure planning.
Strategic Impact: Metso reports water recovery of up to 50% and a threefold improvement in sand permeability. Mine-scale trials must confirm these results across varying mineralogy, feed conditions, throughput, placement methods, and operating climates.
Why It Matters: The approach combines process-water recovery with improved embankment permeability and construction quality. It shifts dewatering from a disposal step to a tailings-stability measure that can influence permitting, assurance, and closure planning.
Strategic Impact: Metso reports water recovery of up to 50% and a threefold improvement in sand permeability. Mine-scale trials must confirm these results across varying mineralogy, feed conditions, throughput, placement methods, and operating climates.
03
Investment Tracker
Free
Water, tailings, and resource-recovery projects confirmed, approved, or selected in 2026.
Australia: Dampier Seawater Desalination Plant
Rio Tinto and the Western Australian Government · 50:50 joint venture · Two development stages will provide 8 GL of water annually to Pilbara communities and industrial users while reducing abstraction from culturally and environmentally sensitive regional aquifers.
A$1.1bn
Confirmed
Chile: Aguas Marítimas multipurpose desalination system
CRAMSA Infraestructura · Environmentally approved project · Planned reverse-osmosis capacity of 700,000 m³/d and 472 kilometres of pipelines will supply third-party mining, industrial, agricultural, and municipal users across northern Chile.
US$5.0bn
Approved
04
Upcoming Event
Free
Sustainability in Mine Water Management · 4 August 2026
Brisbane, Australia and online. Engineers Australia will bring together mining, engineering, consulting, and government professionals for a dedicated session on operational and closure-stage mine-water management.
Focus: The programme covers BHP’s integrated water planning, baseline data, regulatory compliance, residual voids, passive treatment, and mine life-cycle risk management. It connects operational water management with long-term rehabilitation and closure obligations.
Features: Watch for practical benchmarks linking hydrological modelling, automated data workflows, closure liabilities, and compliance reporting to capital investment and production decisions. Speakers include representatives from BHP, consulting firms, engineering organisations, and Queensland regulators.
Focus: The programme covers BHP’s integrated water planning, baseline data, regulatory compliance, residual voids, passive treatment, and mine life-cycle risk management. It connects operational water management with long-term rehabilitation and closure obligations.
Features: Watch for practical benchmarks linking hydrological modelling, automated data workflows, closure liabilities, and compliance reporting to capital investment and production decisions. Speakers include representatives from BHP, consulting firms, engineering organisations, and Queensland regulators.
Analytical edition
Continue into the analytical edition
This edition examines how desalination, tailings dewatering, permitting and water recovery are becoming central to industrial risk and production continuity.
05
Analysis
Subscriber sectionHow desalination, permitting, mine-water management, discharge evidence and production continuity are reshaping investment priorities, capital discipline and project risk across mining and heavy industry. The focus is delivery and operating performance.
Unlock full Analysis →06
Policy Watch
Subscriber sectionHow Chile’s desalination concession framework and wider permitting expectations may influence mining-project delivery, operating approvals, environmental review and long-term water-security planning in practice. The focus is implementation and accountability.
Unlock full Policy Watch →07
Market Forecast
Subscriber sectionWhere demand for dewatering and desalination equipment is likely to move as mining and heavy industry allocate capital toward water recovery, secure supply and operating resilience.
Unlock full Market Forecast →08
Research Spotlight
Subscriber sectionIndustrial-scale research into resource recovery and mine-water management in northern Sweden, and the technical and operating evidence needed to judge its wider relevance for mining projects.
Unlock full Research Spotlight →09
Final Thoughts
Subscriber sectionA strategic synthesis of July’s supply, recovery, tailings and discharge developments, with the industrial water-risk, permitting and production-continuity signals most important to operators and investors.
Unlock full Final Thoughts →Included with Industry accessUS$29/month or US$290/year · Single user
Unlock analytical edition