Tedagua starts production of desalted water for the Spence Mine.

The Tedagua/Cobra team in Chile has reached a fundamental milestone in the Spence Mine desalted water supply project, also known as Spence Growth Option (SGO), starting operations and production in the desalination plant at full capacity and delivering a nominal flow of 86,400 m3/day. The SGO project, led by BHP Billiton, is one of the most ambitious in the Region of Antofagasta, with a planned investment of over 2.46 billion dollars.

The desalination plant is an essential part of the project, since it generates the water required for the copper mineral concentration process and its subsequent refining. Once the water is desalinated, it is conveyed by means of 3 pumps through a 154-kilometer pipeline up to the mine, at an altitude of 1,651m ASL.

The water product is obtained by means of a reverse osmosis desalination process. A series of pretreatments are performed before this process, which include sieving, the removal of organic matter via dissolved air flotation, two-stage multi media filtration and cartridge filtering. Once this process has been completed, the resulting water is remineralized in calcite beds and its composition is adjusted for its intended use.

This plant is of special importance for a region that sees a significant amount of copper mining activities since, thanks to the use of desalinated water in mineral obtainment processes, a higher water sustainability is achieved, the use of surface or underground fresh water -which is scarce in the region- is avoided and a new, greener economic model is implemented.