Water Services and Technologies (WST) was honored to present 4 of the 33 selected talks at the prestigious FEFLOW International User Conference 2024, organized by DHI Water & Environment and held October 8-11 in Hamburg, Germany. The conference brought together renowned professionals from 28 countries to discuss applications and the latest news and trends in numerical modeling of groundwater flow, contaminant and heat transport.
During her presentation, WST Modeling Coordinator, Karen Ninanya addressed the integration between geotechnical and hydrogeological models aimed at the densification that occurs in filling pits or dams with mining tailings. This phenomenon causes not only subsidence, which can compromise the stability of rock waste piles that may eventually be disposed on top of the tailings, but also release a significant extra amount of water, causing unexpected pathways of potential contaminants and changes in springs and water resources.
Rafael Albuquerque, Director of the hydrogeochemistry area, gave two presentations involving complex hydrogeochemical reactions. The first case study was about groundwater contamination with precipitation and dissolution of various minerals and consequent change in the chemical composition and pH of the water. The other presentation was related to the optimization of extraction and estimation of exploitable reserves of dissolved minerals in lithium and other minerals salt flats.
Dr. Nilson Guiguer, WST CEO, discussed the importance of incorporating hydrogeological studies in projects for the decomissioning of mining geotechnical structures and shared the modeling guidelines developed by WST to increase safety and to optimize resources in engineering projects.
“It was a unique learning and knowledge exchange opportunity, where we had the chance to demonstrate how we apply FEFLOW to find practical solutions to the hydrogeological challenges faced by our customers. We thank Carlos Rivera, and the entire DHI team for the impeccable organization of this event. See you next time!”, comments Nilson Guiguer.
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