| Uranium, radium, arsenic, iron, and manganese
have to be removed from the water rising from the Schlema-
Alberoda mine
site to reach compliance with regulatory standards prior to discharge
into the Zwickauer Mulde river. The water is pumped from the mine and
fed to the Schlema-Alberoda water treatment plant for treatment. The plant consists of two nearly identical treatment lines which went on line at two years interval in 1998 and 2000.
The treatment plant has a design capacity of 1,150 m³ per hour.
Water treatment residues are immobilised and the resulting crumbly product is then integrated into an engineered location at mine dump 371. Treatment of the mine water will have to continue until contaminant
levels will be below regulatory standards to allow direct discharge
into the receiving stream. Operation of the Schlema-Alberoda WTP is
anticipated to be required for about 25 years.
The Pöhla water treatment plant came on line in 1995 to treat mine
water emerging from the flooded Pöhla mine. |