ABOUT 550 cubic meters of water will be expected to be treated per hour from the tailing dam at Gold Ridge east of Honiara, when the de-watering commences in the coming weeks.
This was revealed by Kale Cheeseman, managing director of the Remote Water Treatment Services (RWTS) during a site visit through the dam last week.
“The process will treat about 550 cubic meters of water an hour. It is quite a lot of water that will be treated.
“Given the amount of water that will be treated, it is possible that within the next three to six months, the level of water from the dam will be lower,” Mr Cheeseman said.
He added that, this is done for a reason seeing that the rainy season in the country is quite obsessive.
“We do this for a reason because of the rainy season you have here and things like that, you need to move a lot of water.
“That is what the treatment plant will do and it is the maximum amount of water that the plant can treat,” he added.
According to the RWTS managing director, from the dam the water will be pumped and treated in a settling pond. From the settling pond, the machine will then pump about 700 cubic meters of water per hour into the river.
The dewatering will now officially start after over a year of heated debate with regards to the risk that the dam has posed to the lives of the people leaving in the nearby communities.
Last week, the Gold Ridge tailings dam treatment plant was officially handed over to the local owner Gold Ridge Community Investment Limited (GCIL) by the Remote Water Treatment Services (RWTS) representatives.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
