Transforming coal mine settling ponds with GEOTUBE dewatering

Overview

A large Indonesian mining corporation faced a challenge in dewatering silt sediments from their settling ponds in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The ponds had reached their capacity, and the company had limited available land space. The cleaning process involved a continuous cycle of silt dredging and truck relocation to prevent runoff with high levels of suspended solids from polluting nearby river channels. However, this approach became too costly.

Challenge

To address the issue, the company implemented a GEOTUBE^® dewatering facility as part of their cleanout efforts. Over 300 GEOTUBE units were utilized to dewater more than 1,000,000 m³ (1,307,950 yd³) of sediments annually, containing 170,000 m³ (222,411 yd³) of dry solids. The GEOTUBE dewatering tubes were stacked up to seven layers high, using standardized units with a circumference of 36.6 meters (120 feet) and lengths up to 61.4 meters (201 feet), to create large solid landfill structures and optimize land space.

This project stands as one of the largest GEOTUBE dewatering projects ever undertaken worldwide, providing valuable insights into the economics of large-scale GEOTUBE dewatering. It has recently received the 2021 International Achievement Award (IAA) - Award of Excellence.