Hydro maintains three red mud dumps at its old Schwandorf location. These landfills contain residues from the operations of the German aluminum producer VAW from the 1930s to the 1990s. With the takeover of VAW in 2002, the site became part of Hydro. At that time the site had already been shut down.
Hydro took over water treatment on October 1, 2023, which had been outsourced until then. The construction of a new water treatment plant is intended to achieve an increased level of automation and a reduced use of chemicals. At the same time, occupational safety for the workforce on site is increased. The new water treatment plant is designed to adapt to climate change with future extreme weather events.
Five-step plan
The project is carried out in several steps. Initially, a temporary system was built next to the old water treatment plant and put into operation on October 1, 2023. The next step is to dismantle the old water treatment plant. A new permanent water treatment system will be built at the site, which will then replace the temporary system.
The new permanent water treatment plant in Schwandorf is scheduled to go into operation in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2024. In the next two years, Hydro plans to invest around 5-6 million euros in the old sites in Schwandorf and Stulln in the Upper Palatinate region.
“Hydro has specialized skills and resources to manage our global portfolio of Alst locations. At the Schwandorf landfills, we will use state-of-the-art technology and protect both the soil and water environments,” said Bjørn Kjetil Mauritzen, Head of Sustainability at Hydro.
New set of rules
The tailings plants at the disused old sites in Schwandorf and Stulln fall under the global industry standard for the storage and disposal of processing residues (Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management – GISTM). The GISTM framework was introduced in 2020 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the PRI investor initiative and the International Council on Mining & Minerals (ICMM). It is intended to help increase the safety, sustainability and overall management of tailings facilities in the mining industry.
“Implementing the GISTM in the mining industry is important to reduce risk, promote sustainable operations and build trust. Given the dynamic nature of the framework, the GISTM introduces a continuous improvement process that uses state-of-the-art technology, integrated thinking, proactive measures, collaboration and knowledge acquisition,” says Mauritzen.
context
Improper disposal or storage of red mud has led to several disasters in the past that have cost numerous lives and destroyed ecosystems. In 2019, at least 270 people died when the dam burst in Brumadinho, Brazil. The dam, which TÜV Süd had declared safe, belonged to a mine belonging to the mining company Vale. Other examples include the Bento Rodrigues dam failure in 2015 at the Brazilian mining company Samarco Mineração or the Kolontár dam failure in 2010 in western Hungary, aluminum smelter MAL AG.
