Dugald River Mine is a major zinc, lead and silver mine located 65km north-west of Cloncurry in Queensland. As part of the mines facilities upgrades, Protex Water worked closely with owners MMG, to design, supply, install and commission two STP systems, for the Mine site and related Village.
The Protex Water Elementz MemPAK STP provides a reliable, high quality treated effluent suitable for re-use and complaint discharge. The plant incorporates a robust, multi-stage biological treatment process utilising pre-anoxic, anoxic, aerobic and membrane filtration zones to achieve consistent performance.
The treatment train includes a sewage pump station, automated inlet screening, multiple balance tanks, pre-anoxic and anoxic tanks with mechanical mixing, aeration tanks with fine bubble diffusers, and a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) system. Treated permeate is conveyed to a series of chlorine contact tanks, with sodium hypochlorite disinfection ensuring pathogen reduction prior to final discharge or reuse. The system also incorporates a sludge dewatering/handling system to dewater the sludge accumulated in the system making it easier to transport and dispose.
The plant is equipped with high-quality components throughout, including Grundfos, Yokogawa, Lowara, Kubíček, Endress+Hauser and IFM instrumentation ensuring reliability and ease of maintenance in a remote mining environment.
A comprehensive chemical dosing system is also included, including sucrose, alum, caustic, citric acid, polymer and chlorine dosing, supports biological process stability and membrane performance.
Fully automated operation is achieved through an integrated control system with local HMI interface and remote monitoring capability, allowing plant performance to be monitored and optimised with minimal operator intervention.
