Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada 5 – 9 September 2010
Final Program (PDF low resolution 3.4 MByte — PDF high resolution 8.2 MByte)
Welcome – Bienvenue – Ciad Mile Fáilte – Pjilsa’si!
Canada is one of the world’s leading mining nations and Cape Breton Island was the place of the first North American underground coal mine. I am therefore glad that IMWA’s Executive Council decided to hold the 2010 Symposium in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Mine water is a unique liquid – it is not just ground water enriched in nearly every element of the periodic system of elements. Yet, when saying that, I am aware that many mine waters are even used as drinking water because their quality is either excellent or they are treated until they can be used as drinking water. On the other hand, one of the most highly contaminated waters ever found was mine water. Consequently, when speaking about mine water we are dealing with a wide range of different types of waters. And as different as mine water can be, so too are the projects connected with mine water. When we chose the 13 themes for this year’s IMWA Symposium, we tried to mirror the heterogeneousness of mine water; but I was told from a U.S. colleague, that we missed some important subjects related to mine water. However, if you look at the 13 themes, as outlined in this final announcement, you will see that we chose themes specific to one subject, such as “Fracture Flow”, and themes associated with a mining method, such as “Coal Mining”.
What do I think is still missing? We need a more reliable technique to predict the flooding scenario for abandoned mines and we need more reliable tools to predict the development of mine water chemistry during and after mining. Of course, in an ongoing mining operation I can easily modify my treatment plant because a mining operator is on site, but after abandonment, the operator needs reliable predictions of how the mine water quality will evolve. What we also need in the future is somebody who comes up with an industrial sized method to use the sludge from our treatment plants.
This year, over 230 authors sent abstracts and of those, 160 decided to give an oral presentation and have a full paper published in the IMWA 2010 proceedings. Another 60 colleagues will present their work as poster presentations during the Symposium. I read nearly all of the full papers and I can tell you, it will be an interesting IMWA 2010 Symposium! I therefore invite you to Cape Breton Island and to participate in the IMWA 2010 Symposium!
Glückauf!
