Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/963504
A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 1 8 www.resourceworld.com 61 manages to remain competitive, success- ful and innovative in the ever evolving resource industry, McCue said, "I think that a differentiator between our com- pany and a lot of our competitors is that our designs typically go from preliminary design to full scale design without a rede- sign – it is just a step. A lot of mines have complained that it seems that they pay for a preliminary design and then when they move to full scale design they are told that the preliminary design won't work and they need to redesign from the beginning. They essentially repay for that preliminary design in the process of doing the full scale design. Because we specialize in this, we have a pretty good idea of what the sys- tem needs to be for the preliminary design and we tend to save companies money and have a lot less questions asked because of that experience." As water treatment is one of the biggest permitting challenges a mining company can face, how have regulations have changed the way McCue does business? Smithard replied, "The experience regu- lators have relating to water is really varied. A lot of them don't have a background in water treatment. In those instances they want more information. They have a lack of knowledge and they want the mine to fill in that knowledge and add confidence to what the mine is communicating about their commitment to water and what they are going to do about it. There are a lot of stakeholders involved and I find that they are getting more sophisticated and have more knowledge and they also want more information. This results in everyone want- ing more information sooner in the EA [environmental assessment] and permit pro- cess. They are looking for greater assurance and greater confidence that water manage- ment and treatment is going to be achieved. These pressures are driving engineering forward faster." For companies, in regards to water treat- ment, McCue has some advice. Smithard said, "It is a little underestimated as to what it takes to get to your end point. Companies sometimes wait a little too long before they initiate planning. For example, people tend to wait till spring, when they have to address issues due to spring runoff. They know it is coming; they know they will have to deal with it but they are slow to plan it and sign a contract. Meanwhile, lead times are getting shorter and shorter. Sometimes they cannot hit their target because they waited too long. This hap- pens at all stages: care and maintenance, exploration, development and production. Plan early, understand there is a lead time and, if you don't know what it is, you need to find out and plan accordingly." McCue said, "Most of the time a water treatment system is custom built for a spe- cific application. Because of that it is not something you can just pull off a shelf. If someone is thinking water treatment is com- ing up soon, then best to get on it months in advance of having equipment on site." n MININGWORLD