Vista
Gold Australia announced today that its water treatment program for Mt Todd’s
Batman Pit had delivered excellent results with 97% of all metals in the top 15
metres of the water having been taken out.
Brent
Murdoch, Vista Gold General Manager said that the in-situ water treatment
program had produced an outstanding improvement on the quality of the water in
Batman Pit.
“Vista
Gold has invested $9 million into this water treatment program. We have added
10,000 tonnes of finely ground limestone and 2,000 tonnes of quicklime to the
water and it is paying off.”
“Just
as the scientists said it would, the limestone has caused a chemical reaction
in the water, increased the pH level and caused the metals to precipitate to
the bottom.”
Since
October last year the pH level in Batman Pit has increased from an acidic 3.3
to a pH level of 7.5.
Recent
reports have raised concerns about the level of cadmium in the water, which Mr
Murdoch says is one of the slowest metals to drop out.
“79%
of the cadmium has already gone from the top 15 metres, or pumping zone, and we
expect it to continue to reduce as the metal responds to the treatment,” he
said.
Vista
Gold was recently issued a Waste Discharge Licence by the Northern Territory
Government for the release of water from the mine site into the Edith River. It
has not however, discharged any water from Batman Pit this wet season.
Batman
Pit currently holds 10.3 gigalitres of treated water. Vista Gold will only
release the water when the quality of the water and the flow of the Edith River
meet specific environmental protection levels.
Under
the terms of the Waste Discharge Licence, Vista Gold is required to publish
water monitoring results on its website when it discharges water. The company
has made a commitment to the community beyond this and is already publishing
weekly water treatment results on www.mttodd.com.au.
A
table showing all of the metal values in Batman Pit is also now available on
the website.
“Vista
Gold is committed to ensuring that the water in the Edith River meets the
Australia Drinking Water Guidelines for Health,” he said. “This is our
commitment to the community.”
For
more information on the RP3 Water Treatment Metal Reductions go to: http://mttodd.com.au/environment
