Overview
Mine Water Systems focuses on sampling and monitoring, data management, mine water quality, mine site water balance and regulated structures, subsidence and watercourse diversions.
The course is designed to equip junior environmental personnel with the technical skills necessary to implement best-practice environmental management.
This is part 2 of 3 courses on managing water within the Mine Site Environmental Management Program.
Who should attend
Junior environmental personnel.
Entry requirements
You will need to complete Mine Site Environmental Program Part 1 – Mine Water Fundamentals – before enrolling in this course.
An ArcGIS Pro license is required. If it is not available through employment conditions, a personal ArcGIS Pro licence can be purchased on Esri’s website.
Computer system requirements: preferably 16GB of RAM (memory); 8GB is recommended as a minimum. All GIS workflows that are provided in the courses were tested with 16GB Memory system, Intel i7 processor (3GHz), Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU (8GB), Samsung NVMe SSD.
What you'll learn
- Legislative and regulatory requirements that apply to mine water systems.
- How to manage a sampling program and associated monitoring network, and interpret and analyse water quality data.
- How to identify the various elements of a mine water system and develop a mine water balance.
- The requirements for managing regulated structures on a mine site.
- Site-specific issues such as the influence of groundwater on pit slope stability, impacts of subsidence, and requirements for watercourse diversions
- How to submit incident reports to regulators.
Time commitment
This is an online course that will require roughly 70 hours to complete.
Course curriculum
The facilitator for this module is Shona Stevens. This module is divided into 4 sections:
- Introduction – an overview of the environmental legal system, its many parts and structure.
- Overview of Regulatory Instruments, in particular the legislation with direct relevance to water in mining.
- Understanding Authority / Licence Conditions.
- Amending Authority / Licence Conditions.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Mansour Edraki. This module is divided into 4 sections:
- Understanding source contaminants – Introduction to the causes and types of contaminants in mine impacted water including AMD, salinity and cyanide.
- Chemistry theory – Introduction to some background chemistry and theory specific to mine water, including solubility of minerals, acidity and alkalinity and adsorption.
- Monitoring design – Concepts and procedures of designing a water quality monitoring program for your site including compliance and strategic monitoring.
- Croydon Mine case study – Understanding water chemistry data to manage impacts on the receiving environment.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Mansour Edraki. This module is divided into 4 sections:
- Sampling and laboratory analysis – Focus on water quality sampling procedures including water quality parameters and water chemistry constituents.
- Analysis of water quality data – You will learn how to analyse water quality monitoring data, learn the common reasons for analysis and interpretation, as well as how to use statistical tools to represent water quality data.
- Data management – There are extensive requirements for data reporting on mine sites and an effective data management system is essential. We will explore the essential functionalities of these environmental databases.
- Case studies – Case studies will be examined including hexavalent chromium dispersion from Nickel Laterite Mine, water quality signatures, and post-closure water quality at Kidston.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 3 sections:
- Understand the history of the water accounting framework and its intent.
- Identify the elements of a mine water system and be able to categorise them.
- Visually represent a water balance model using systems-thinking and network diagrams.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 4 sections:
- Understand what “regulated structures” are.
- Raise awareness of the importance of defining and clarifying roles and responsibilities with respect to the design, operation and surveillance of regulated structures.
- Equip you with sufficient knowledge to carry out the tasks assigned to you with respect to the design, operation and surveillance of regulated structures.
- Provide guidance to assist you with managing studies that assess consequences from failure of a regulated structure.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 3 sections:
- Understand what a pit lake is.
- Equip you with sufficient knowledge to predict the volume of water held in the pit lake and its water level.
- Gain an awareness of how a pit lake's volume and water levels can vary over time.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 4 sections:
- Water-related risks – The presence of groundwater can lead to the pit slope being unstable.
- Dewatering – At some mines the presence of groundwater poses risks that must be managed through dewatering programs.
- Depressurisation – The way to maintain pit slope stability is to reduce pore pressure in the slope material and this is achieved with implementation of a depressurisation program.
- Integrated planning – Effective dewatering and depressurisation requires integrated planning and collaboration of multiple teams.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 3 sections:
- Inrush and inundation – Explain what an inrush and inundation are.
- Management plans – Outline requirements of Inundation and Inrush Hazard Management.
- Role of environmental personnel – Define the role of environmental personnel in preventing catastrophic water impacts on underground mines.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 3 sections:
- Explain what subsidence is.
- Describe the impacts of subsidence.
- Outline the monitoring and rehabilitation options that are currently available.
The facilitator for this module is Associate Professor Claire Côte. This module is divided into 3 sections:
- What is a watercourse diversion – Understand what “watercourse diversions” are.
- Roles and responsibilities – Raise awareness of the importance of defining and clarifying roles and responsibilities with respect to the design, operation and monitoring of watercourse diversions.
- Implementation and design – Equip you with sufficient knowledge to carry out the tasks assigned to you with respect to the design, operation and monitoring of watercourse diversions.
- Monitoring and evaluation – Provide guidance to assist you with managing studies that assess watercourse diversions.
Assessment
You will need to complete regular tasks and submit them as one final assessment at the end of the course. Students are provided with an extensive data set including water quality and quantity data to:
- perform water quality data analyses.
- derive site water account.
- write an incident report for a noncompliant release.
Certification and accreditation
Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion to verify their skills and achievements.
Facilitators
Cost
Applicant | Price |
---|---|
Individual domestic ex. GST | A$3,000 |
Individual international (GST not payable) | A$3,000 |
Please see the Terms and Conditions – UQ Pay (PDF, 123.12 KB).
GST is excluded from the cost
Payment optionsWe accept credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) for payment, including corporate credit cards. If you do not have access to a card, please contact our team at education@smi.uq.edu.au to discuss your options.
Related courses
This course is part of the Mine Site Environmental Management Program suite. There are 3 courses within this suite – see the other related courses below:
- Mine Site Environmental Management Program 1 – Mine Water Fundamentals
- Mine Site Environmental Management Program 3 – Soil, Erosion and Sediment Control, Tailings and Residue
Contact
Sustainable Minerals Institute
For more professional development options, visit the Sustainable Minerals Institute website.