Mine water treatment is a critical aspect of the safe and sustainable operation of mining sites. Some byproducts of mining activities, such as heavy metals, acids and chemical residues, can severely impact environmental water quality if not properly treated. Therefore, effective mine water treatment prevents the contamination of rivers, lakes and groundwater, safeguarding communities and the environment while helping operators to comply with environmental regulations.
Headquartered in South Africa and active across several African countries, Miwatek has developed a holistic, vendor-agnostic expertise in this domain, providing solutions across the entire value chain of mine water treatment, from feasibility studies through to project execution.
Identifying goals
Previously reliant on AutoCAD® to develop P&ID drawings, the company needed a more robust platform that could enhance their workflow efficiency and improve design accuracy.
Because mine water treatment involves significant costs, risks and requires complex designs, the team was searching for a powerful, integrated solution that could help streamline processes and quickly and accurately develop P&IDs, 3D drawings and plant layouts.
These deliverables should be easy to share with clients and consultants and provide advanced collaboration features tolet the team convey its thought process and accelerate reviews and approvals.
These considerations prompted the adoption of Octave’s Facets P&IDWorx and BricsCAD.
Overcoming challenges
With the help of Octave’s implementation partner, Chempute Software, Miwatek was able to smoothly migrate to its new solutions and obtain rapid results.
Octave’s Facets P&IDWorx and BricsCAD are two solutions that are easy to use and help our engineers develop highly detailed and accurate P&IDs. Not only do they streamline our design processes, but they also enhance our communication and collaboration with stakeholders,” explains Wesley Neutt, Miwatek’s Business Development Manager.
Today, Octave’s solutions have become a fundamental part of Miwatek’s design workflow, ensuring that P&IDs capture intricate design details while documenting the engineering team’s thinking and guiding principles.
These P&IDs are used to create 3D drawings, piping layouts and plant layouts, and they help communicate key elements like valve selections, major unit sizes, instrumentation, piping sizes and control system logics.
Realizing Results: The Newmont Akyem Project
A prime example of Miwatek’s utilization of Octave’s technology occurred during the design of a TSF cyanide destruction plant. The site needed a cyanide destruction plant with a flow rate of 60 liters per second to manage the volumes of let-over materials produced by the mining operations and stored at the site’s tailings storage facility (TSF).
From 2021, Miwatek has leveraged Octave’s solutions to conduct pre-feasibility engineering phase, identify hydrogen peroxide as the most cost-effective method and integrate plans with downstream treatment facilities such as the mobile reverse-osmosis (RO) plant.
The company was then able to accelerate process engineering by producing key deliverables, including detailed P&IDs, engineering lists and process descriptions developed using Facets P&IDWorx on BricsCAD. These deliverables significantly enhanced the accuracy and detail of project documentation.
Lastly, in the second half of 2022, Miwatek led the execution phase, which saw the full-scale application of engineered plans, with ongoing support and modifications facilitated by the seamless integration of Octave’s solutions.
Moving Forward
As Miwatek looks to the future, the company plans to leverage the strengths of Hexagon’s solutions across more projects to continue enhancing their efficiency in mine water treatment.
“Facets P&IDWorx and BricsCAD are two solutions that are easy to use and help our engineers develop highly detailed and accurate P&IDs. Not only do they streamline our design processes, but they also enhance our communication and collaboration with stakeholders.” Wesley Neutt, Business Development Manager, Miwatek
