Water Use in Mining

• Mining uses between seven and nine billion cubic metres of water per year, which is about as much water as a country like Nigeria or Malaysia uses in total in a year.
• Mining and burning coal accounts for half of all water withdrawals in the United States, which is the same amount of water that pours over Niagara Falls in fi ve months.
• An estimated 18.28 billion litres of water is withdrawn for mining a year in the United States.
• Demand for water by the mining sector is likely to increase, with projections ranging from 810 billion litres of water used a year to 940 billion litres of water used a year by 2020 for Western Australia alone.

The table below illustrates water use for processing and extraction by mineral/metal type

With different types of mines having different water requirements, platinum and diamond mines rely on water the least while copper and gold mines are most water intensive.