Mining operators need water to make bare rock give up its valuable minerals, however stricter regulations on acid mine drainage, removing metals from process water, and total dissolved solids (TDS) are pushing companies to look for more environmentally friendly solutions.

Often tailing ponds are used to hold large quantities of process water. The evaporation process may be carried out naturally in solar evaporation ponds but this approach is slow and requires a great deal of land area. The cost of constructing additional storage ponds and the added cost of clean up and re-vegetation are often prohibitive.

SMI’s Mechanical Evaporation machines can rapidly increase the evaporation process, with up to 14 times more efficiency than space taken by the same area of pond. Our Evaporation Machines are relatively compact, reliable, efficient and portable. There are many benefits to using Mechanical Evaporators:

• Lower process water management costs
• Enhance evaporation on existing ponds
• Minimize new pond surface area
• Quickly lower water volumes
• Lower environmental liability and the associated environmental protection bond requirements

SMI Evaporative Solutions has served the mining industry for over 20 years. The popular SMI 420B and 420F (our innovative floating design) are frequently used in the mining industry due to their durability, industrial construction, insensitivity to dirty wastewater and flexibility.

We offer complete process water solutions, from initial site analysis to remote centralized computer control systems. Learn more about SMI’s processed water evaporation technologies.