Established | 1979 |
---|---|
Founder | Prof. Dr. Rafael Fernandez-Rubio, Spain |
Type | Professional association |
Headquarters | Wendelstein, Germany |
Region served | Worldwide |
Services | Journal, Congresses |
Membership | 781 |
Key people | Prof. Dr. Christian Wolkersdorfer (President); Dr. Michael Paul (Vice President); Prof Qiang Wu (Vice President); Dr. Lotta Sartz (General Secretary); Dr. Bob Kleinmann (Editor-in-chief); Dr. Alison Turner (Treasurer) |
Website | www.IMWA.info |
The International Mine Water Association (IMWA) is the first scientific-technical association worldwide dedicated to mine water related topics. Its peer-reviewed journal is Mine Water and the Environment.
IMWA was founded in 1979 in Granada, Spain, due to the steadily increasing problems related to water in the mining sector. Back then, the main focus of the association was on safety issues of water in mining. Over the years the focal point changed to more environmental issues. Since its conception, IMWA aimed to promote contacts between researchers, mine operators, consultants, and students. For this purpose, IMWA organizes congresses every three years and, in the years in between, symposia are held. In 2014, about 250 delegates from 40 nations attended the 12th IMWA Congress in Xuzhou (徐州), China.
Since 1982, the IMWA has published the Journal of the International Mine Water Association which was later (1994) renamed Mine Water and the Environment. [1] [2] Today, the Journal is available electronically (ISSN 1616-1068) and in printed form (ISSN 1025-9112) from Springer-Nature, (Heidelberg, Germany). [2] Since 2010, it is listed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and is dispatched quarterly (March, June, September and December) to more than 1,000 subscribers worldwide. Its electronic articles are requested several thousands of times per month.
Furthermore, the book series Mining and the Environment was launched in 2008 (Springer) with the first volume being devoted to mine water management and tracer tests and the second volume focusing on acidic pit lakes.
Since its formation, IMWA has held 14 congresses and a number of symposia, all of which were organized by the respective local IMWA host:
The next meeting is scheduled for:
In 2013 the International Mine Water Association records 851 individual including 66 corporate members from 40 Nations with two local groups in Europe (PADRE) and North America, respectively. Since 1997 membership of the association grew steadily from 70 members to today's numbers; mainly based on the increasing importance of water and its environmental aspects in mining. Most members of IMWA are registered in North America, followed by Europe, South Africa and Australia.
Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials from the Earth and other astronomical objects. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. including a valuable mineral Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.
Cinnabar, or cinnabarite, is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the brilliant red or scarlet pigment termed vermilion and associated red mercury pigments.
Johannesburg, colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade.
Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold. It is also used in mining kaolin and coal.
Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines.
Museum Africa or MuseuMAfricA is a historical museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Concor Holdings (Proprietary) Limited. is a South African construction and mining services company. It is active throughout Southern Africa, involved in mining, civil engineering, building and road projects. Concor returned as an independent brand in late 2016.
Gold Fields Limited is one of the world's largest gold mining firms. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The firm was formed in 1998 with the amalgamation of the gold assets of Gold Fields of South Africa Limited and Gencor Limited. The company traces its roots back to 1887, when Cecil Rhodes founded Gold Fields of South Africa Limited. As of 2019, Gold Field was the world's eighth-largest producer of gold.
The World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS), is a global network of chefs associations first founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris. At that first congress there were 65 delegates from 17 countries, representing 36 national and international associations, and the venerable August Escoffier was named the first Honorary President of WACS. Today, this global body has 72 official chefs associations as members. The biennial congress is a hallmark tradition of WACS and has been organized in over 20 cities across the world throughout its illustrious 74-year history, WACS is managed by an elected presidential body consisting of the WACS president, vice president, treasurer, secretary general and ambassador honorary president, as well as a board of continental directors that look after the regions of Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific and the Americas. A separate committee manages all culinary competition-related affairs.
The Global Labour University (GLU) is an international network of universities, trade unions, NGOs and the International Labour Organisation. It was initiated in 2002 and offers master's programs, academic certificate programs and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) on sustainable development, social justice, international labour standards and trade/labour unions, economic policies and global institutions.
The International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment, formerly International Association for Engineering Geology, also known as IAEG, is an international scientific society which was founded in 1964. It is affiliated with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and has 3,798 members and 59 national groups all over the world.
GoldSim is dynamic, probabilistic simulation software developed by GoldSim Technology Group. This general-purpose simulator is a hybrid of several simulation approaches, combining an extension of system dynamics with some aspects of discrete event simulation, and embedding the dynamic simulation engine within a Monte Carlo simulation framework.
The Partnership for Acid Drainage Remediation (PADRE) is a European-based scientific-technical association dedicated to acid mine water related topics.
Namibia has one of the richest uranium mineral reserves in the world. There are currently two large operating mines in the Erongo Region and various exploration projects planned to advance to production in the next few years.
The School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering is one of seven schools in the University of the Witwatersrand's Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. The School offers 4-year undergraduate degrees and post-graduate degrees in chemical and metallurgical engineering.
Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd. is a South African-based engineering and mining contractor. It is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange. The Group delivers its capabilities into three global primary market sectors the resources, industrial, energy, water and specialised infrastructure market sectors.
The Industrial and Mining Water Research Unit is one of several research entities based in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It provides research as well as supervision to masters and doctorate students within the University, as well as consulting to industry.
Rand Water, previously known as the Rand Water Board, is a South African water utility that supplies potable water to the Gauteng province and other areas of the country and is the largest water utility in Africa. The water is drawn from numerous sources and is purified and supplied to industry, mining and local municipalities and is also involved in sanitation of waste water.
Gerhardminnebron is a natural karst spring located a few kilometers east of Ventersdorp in South Africa and draining into the Wonderfonteinspruit and Mooi River, which in turn flows into the Vaal River. It yields some 60 000 – 80 000 cubic meters of water per day, and is affected by exploitation and pollution by the gold mining industry in the region, deep–level gold mining having markedly impacted on the dolomitic aquifers. This spring is located in dolomitic rock that is part of the larger Boskop–Turffontein dolomite compartment in the Transvaal Basin. Dolomite is a sedimentary carbonate rock, a swath of which runs parallel to the Magaliesberg, and has a tendency to form large underground lakes and reservoirs.
Jeannette Unite is a South African artist who has collected oxides, metal salts and residues from mines, heritage and industrial sites to develop paint, pastel and glass recipes for her large scale artworks that reflect on the mining and industrial sites where humanity's contemporary world is manufactured.