Industry sector
WREMA supports mining operations with water supply security, site water balance modelling, dam safety, waterway diversion and flood protection — from exploration through to operation and closure.
Project experience
A selection of mine water management projects undertaken by WREMA's staff, prior to and since the firm's formation in 2014.
Anglo Callide
Managed all baseline and impact assessment studies, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, water balance modelling, waterway diversion design and levee design for the Boundary Hill Extension water management package, including regulator engagement through to granting of a Mining Lease.
Integrated Operational Water and Salt Balance Model — Tarong Energy Corporation
Audited water usage across Tarong Energy Corporation's facilities and developed an integrated water and salt balance model with a 'dashboard' user interface, enabling demand reduction, recycling, energy savings and forward planning across the site.
Xstrata Coal
Mine water management and creek diversion strategy assessing both a reference reach approach and a design criteria approach, including stream morphology assessments, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, comprehensive water balance modelling (GoldSim) and flood protection levee design.
Rio Tinto
2D hydraulic modelling study investigating the impact of a proposed 12km conveyor on distributed channel flows in an area with extensive mulga communities, optimising the number and placement of environmental culverts to minimise impact.
Operational Water and Salt Balance Model
Developed an integrated water and salt balance model incorporating both the power station and the nearby supplying mine, with a 'dashboard' user interface for active management of water demand and supply sources.
Xstrata
Developed an operational simulation water balance for the tailings dams south of the mine, considering climate and tailings-generated water to better understand dam capacity and future wall raises against the Manual for Assessing Hazard Categories and Hydraulic Performance of Dams.
Fortescue Metals Group
Assessment of catchment flows and design of waterway crossings for a 20+ km haul road associated with Christmas Creek mine, using a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to minimise impact on sheet-flow-dependent mulga.
Gold Corporation
Updated the mine water balance to account for additional raw water storages and tailings dams, and undertook dambreak investigations assessing sunny-day and PMF-induced failures for three water supply dams and two tailings dams, plus hydraulic design of a new tailings dam spillway.
Alkane Resources
Hydrologic studies including flood assessment, sediment basin design, site water balance study, water supply reliability assessment, storage dam sizing, and development of water management strategies and plans.
Integrated Operation Water and Salt Balance Model — Peabody
Conceptualisation, preparation and calibration of a GoldSIM water and salt balance model with a site 'dashboard' interface, covering the Burton, Ellensfield, Wallanbah, Broadmeadow and Plumtree mine areas to support site water management and Environmental Authority obligations.
Office Water / State Water
Developed a real-time forecasting model providing estimates of flows and salinity loads to alert power generators and mining companies when they could release saline water under the Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme.
Penrith Lakes Development Corporation (consortium of mining companies)
Developed a daily water balance model for 11 large lakes (735ha surface area, 40,000ML storage) formed by a sand mining operation, determining fill times after mining ceases and additional makeup water requirements for suitable water level variation.