Generation of Fine Coal In-Section

A pilot brine concentrator treated Stage 3 reject effluent from a mine water reclamation plant, raising total dissolved solids from 24 g/L to 154 g/L at 88 per cent water recovery. The condensate met the national potable water specification. A separate run concentrated brine from 76 g/L to 145 g/L, solid salts were precipitated, and no scaling or fouling was seen.

A digital wetland map and linked database were compiled for the Upper Olifants River Catchment from existing literature, existing wetland layers and aerial photography. Wetlands cover about 2 147 km2, some 14 per cent of the 15 158 km2 catchment. The wetland layer is about 70 per cent accurate and its attributes about 60 per cent, so it suits baseline screening rather than site assessment.

No operating full scale frictional ignition test facility was found anywhere in the world, and building one was judged expensive, impractical and unlikely to justify its cost against laboratory scale testing. Effort should instead go to small scale laboratory equipment using South African rocks, and to expanding geological data such as silica distribution and petrographic analysis.