Tedagua will build a Seawater Desalination Plant and water supply for the Spence Mine in Chile

Last October, Tedagua entered into a contract for a seawater Desalination Plant and water supply for the Spence Mine (Chile) as part of the joint SPENCE GROWTH OPTION (SGO) project between the Chilean MINERA SPENCE S.A. (a subsidiary of the BHP Billiton Australian multi-national company) and the CAITAN, SpA. investment consortium composed of the TÉCNICAS DE DESALINIZACIÓN DE AGUAS, S.A. (TEDAGUA) multi-national company and the Japanese MITSUI & CO., LTD.

The project will be situated in lands neighboring the city of Mejillones, Antofagasta region (in the so-called Pearl of Northern Chile) and will be developed in 2 stages. The first 30-month stage will be the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and commissioning) phase, followed by a 20-year Operation and Maintenance (O&M) phase that may be extended by 5 + 5 years.

The project consists of the design, construction and commissioning of: seawater intake headworks as well as intake and outfall pipelines, a seawater desalination plant with a production capacity of 86,400 m³ per day by means of reverse osmosis (RO) processes, a 66KV 75-kilometer overhead power line, and a 154-kilometer pipeline made of 36" (900 mm) diameter steel pipes with 3 pumping stations to pump the desalinated water to the Spence Mine facilities overcoming height differences in excess of 2,000 m.