Supporting World Water Day 2022

This year’s World Water Day focused on protecting a precious but hidden resource – groundwater.

Groundwater is the water found in underground aquifers, in geological formations of rocks, sands and gravels.

An incredibly important resource, groundwater accounts for more than 90% of the world’s available freshwater resources.

In the Mount Isa region, it is used by both our mining operations and the local community for sports field irrigation and as a water supply on cattle stations.

In March, the Queensland Metals Environmental Operations team commenced a study to further elevate our understanding of how our region's groundwater system works, building on previous extensive evaluations.

Senior Water Advisor, Rodrigo Correa Ibanez, says the study will help to inform what controls we can implement to minimise any potential contamination from our operations on our groundwater resources and allow us to protect this important resource.

“To investigate and understand groundwater, we need to be able to know what’s going on under the surface,” Rodrigo says.

“First we drill multiple monitoring bores on our mining lease and collect samples of rocks and water from the groundwater system for laboratory analysis.”

“Drilling to different depths allows us to monitor multiple aquifers and target different depths within the one aquifer.”

“Specialist hydrogeologists inspect and analyse the samples to identify the properties of the aquifers and the water, which informs us of geological conditions and the quality, quantity and signature of the groundwater.”

“We also use geophysics to help identify the potential presence of contaminants within geological structures such as faults, fracture or weathered rock and alluvium strata. This information helps us to understand the movement of water and predict changes in the quality and quantity.”

“By investigating and subsequently understanding our local groundwater systems, we can ensure it is managed in a sustainable and responsible way,” Rodrigo says.

“World Water Day plays an important part in raising awareness about the importance of groundwater worldwide, and we are passionate about supporting this.”

“We’re proud that through this study Queensland Metals is contributing to the protection of this precious resource, through managing water responsibly, minimising impacts on water quality and quantity and protecting the ecosystem.”