VWS Envig Constructs Treatment Plant for Mine in Botswana GABORONE, Botswana

- The VWS Envig Water and Treatment Company has designed, constructed and installed a water treatment plant at SelebiPhikwe mine in Botswana. VWS Envig is a merger between Veolia Water Systems and Weir Envig in South Africa. SelebiPhikwe is a nickel mine that uses ice water as cooling medium for air coolers in one of its shafts. The mine applies sodium chloride in order to prevent the water inside the tunnel from forming larger ice blocks. The cooling water is then recycled before it becomes effluent which is distilled before it is finally discharged. Francois Gouws, VWS Envig's managing director, said the challenge his company faced was treating the effluent water so that it could be used for crop irrigation...