The development of mining in South America has caused serious environmental impacts and as a result both local communities and authorities are imposing strict environmental requirements on both new and preexisting projects. The main concerns are related to mine water management and particularly acid rock drainage, an issue that has become a major challenge for mining companies.
These issues will be discussed during the 10th version of the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage -ICARD- and the Annual Meeting of the International Mine Water Association -IMWA- taking place as a single event from April 21-24, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Santiago, Chile.
Over 300 abstracts by authors from 24 countries have already been received. Amongst the countries represented are Australia, Canada, Chile, China, India and South Africa. The main themes to be discussed at the event are: prediction, prevention and control of acid rock drainage in mining; applied mineralogy; geomicrobiology and geochemistry of mine water; responsible mine water operation; mine dewatering; and collection and treatment of mine water.
The conference, organized by the South American Network for Acid Prevention (SANAP) and the company Gecamin, will be chaired by Robert Mayne-Nicholls, CEO of Minera Los Pelambres. Co-Chairing the event are Terrance Chatwin, Technical Manager of the International Network for Acid Prevention (INAP), and Adrian Brown, past-president of IMWA.
ICARD is the worldwide leader in acid rock drainage and is held every 3 years. The last version, in 2012, took place in Ottawa, Canada. Historically this event is held in North America but is now beginning to take place in other parts of the world.
IMWA is the first scientific technical association dedicated to global water issues in mining. Since its founding in 1979 in Granada, Spain, the IMWA has organized an annual conference and a congress every 3 years.
More information: icard2015.com
