Tag: Water scarcity

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In areas like Western Australia’s Pilbara, groundwater is a shared resource, relied on by local communities, Indigenous custodians, farmers, and ecosystems. And while your site might be compliant, that’s no longer the whole story.

“Staying within your licence isn’t enough anymore. You can still lose support on the ground,” says Martin Krehenbrink, CEO at Bind-X. “We’ve seen the impacts of this recently in the Pilbara in Western Australia.”

Earlier this year, the Robe River Kuruma people raised serious concerns about the impact of groundwater extraction from aquifers in the Bungaroo Valley, water connected to sacred sites.

The ABC News report says that mining operations have drawn up to 10 billion litres a year from the area since 2014. Groundwater levels have dropped by half in just a decade. The result? Dry riverbeds, dead trees, and damage to culturally significant landscapes.

While dust suppression isn’t named directly, it’s part of the picture. And one of the easiest areas to target for immediate water savings.

“We can’t just talk about compliance anymore,” says Martin. “We need to demonstrate that we’re thinking about long-term water stewardship and cultural heritage.”

Dust suppression is often treated as a background task. But it’s a thirsty one.

Spraying plain water on haul roads can quietly consume millions of litres each week. At some sites, it accounts for more than 30% of total water use. Yet it’s rarely monitored or reported on separately.

That creates a blind spot, not in your compliance report, but in public perception.

“The real risk isn’t about breaking the rules,” Martin explains. “It’s about losing trust. If you’re not in front of the issue, someone else will be.”
In a region where every drop is becoming increasingly scarce, it’s what you do with each litre that counts.

According to Martin, a molecular microbiologist who works closely with mine sites around Australia, it’s time to treat dust control not just as a maintenance task, but as a conservation opportunity.

“Dust control has to align with your broader sustainability strategy,” says Martin. “It can’t be the exception.”

Water spraying might feel like business as usual, but it’s wasteful, short-term, and increasingly hard to justify. Other options are available, and some newer technologies on the market are achieving good results.

Some mining companies are already proving what’s possible.

At one site, ArcelorMittal switched to a biological dust control method using a clean, biological product called Terrabind. Instead of regular water sprays, this solution binds fine particles on the haul road, keeping dust down for longer with significantly less water.
The impact? A 75% reduction in water use for dust suppression. You can read the full case here.

The approach doesn’t just conserve water. It also extends the life of haul roads, reduces fuel and maintenance costs, and shows a proactive commitment to environmental responsibility.
It’s a cleaner alternative to older technologies like polymers, and bitumen emulsions, which come with their own challenges. It’s worth considering the newer wave of dust control alternatives out there.

Haul road dust suppression may not be the biggest issue on your ESG radar. But it’s one of the few where you can make a visible, measurable improvement—quickly.

Every litre saved sends a message that your site takes stewardship seriously.

• Are you tracking water use for dust suppression separately?
• Have you benchmarked usage per kilometre of haul road?
• When did you last assess alternative control methods?
• Are Indigenous water concerns part of your site’s risk assessment?
• Do your sustainability reports reflect haul road water usage?

Dust suppression doesn’t need to be a blind spot in your sustainability strategy.

Your licence to operate depends not just on legal compliance, but on leadership. Especially when it comes to visible, localised impacts like water use.

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Find out about biological dust control for your site

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Across Australian and African mine sites, operations continue to rely on untreated water as their primary dust control method, despite clear evidence of its limitations. Plain water evaporates within hours, creating a costly cycle of reapplication that strains resources without delivering lasting results.

“The mining industry has historically defaulted to ‘just add more water trucks’ when dust problems persist,” notes Martin Krehenbrink, CEO at Bind-X. “But forward-thinking site managers are now questioning whether plain water, regardless of application frequency, is fundamentally the right tool, given increasing water scarcity.”

On paper, watering haul roads might appear low-cost and straightforward. But its effects wear off fast, often within 20 to 40 minutes. This creates a constant, resource-intensive loop with high fuel and water use: 3 to4 trucks per shift, especially during the dry season.

The problem doesn’t stop at inefficiency. Plain water on its own damages road surfaces, compromises safety, and disrupts operations. Too much water means operators face slippery conditions, wet ruts, and potholes.. Tyre wear increases. Maintenance teams are left fixing the very roads the water is supposed to protect.

“Water trucks are out in force, but they’re not solving the root problem. In many cases, they’re making it worse by degrading the roads,” says Martin. “We’ve seen haul speeds drop purely because of wet, greasy conditions.”

Each part of your site has unique dust dynamics. In-pit areas may respond well to water. But static surfaces, like bunds and stockpiles, require longer-lasting suppression. And heavy-traffic haul roads benefit from stabilisation rather than repeated wetting.

Yet many sites still rely on one method, spraying plain water, as the primary dust control method, regardless of traffic volume, dust generation rate, or reapplication effort. It’s easy to default to water trucks. They appear to get the job done. But in reality, you’re spending time, fuel, labour and water, just to chase a problem around the site.

“Smarter dust control starts with zoning,” says Martin. Not every part of the site generates dust the same way. “In-pit at the active face, plain water with cannons works, sure. A well-timed wetting strategy can keep things under control.”

“But when it comes to your high-traffic haul roads, and areas like bunds, stockpiles, ROM edges, or rehab zones, these aren’t places you should be hitting with a water truck every few hours,” he says.

For those zones, you need a set-and-forget approach. Ideally you would use biological binders or soil stabilisation products that create a crust or binding layer that lasts for weeks or even months, depending on conditions.

“But it should be environmentally safe and re-minable at a later time,” explains Martin.

“When we see sites step back and treat dust control the way they treat any operational risk, by assessing cause, exposure, and impact, better decisions follow. The progressive ones are already doing this.”

You spend less, get better results, and free up your crews to focus on higher-value work.

Newer technologies now offer the same durability as older methods like bitumen emulsions, lignosulphonates, and polymers, without the environmental downsides. One example is Terrabind, a biological dust control method that uses natural  processes to form a solid cement-like layer on the wearing course. It keeps dust in place without oil, polymers, or synthetic resins.

Once applied, it penetrates the surface and holds dust down through heat, wind, and even rain. It’s biologically safe and scalable.

“We’ve helped sites cut water usage by 75%, and some up to 90%,” says Martin. “Removing water trucks from haul roads not only reduces water use, it eliminates unnecessary interactions with dump trucks and speeds up haul cycles.”

Eramet reduced road water usage by 85% with a biological dust control approach at their Grande Côte Opérations (GCO) in Senegal. In 2022, the mining services team realised they were spraying over 242,000 litres of water per day on the roads just to keep dust under control. They wanted to reduce water consumption, so the business proactively decided to test other options. The team found that Terrabind reduced water usage by 85% and created a three-fold drop in dust fallout. You can read more about that story here.

Before you default to more water, pause and assess what’s really happening onsite. With the right data, you can make smarter, targeted decisions:

• Use dust monitors to pinpoint hot spots
• Schedule your drones to regularly assess surface conditions and track dust movement
• Conduct visual audits to measure effectiveness by zone
• Stabilise haul roads with environmentally safe binders

“Smart sites are moving from firefighting to forward planning,” says Martin. “They’re using technology like dust monitors, drones, and data to decide where and when to act.”

The solution isn’t just running water trucks, it’s a new mindset. Treating dust control as a strategic process instead of a reactive routine opens the door to better performance, lower costs, and safer roads.

Because if you’re just spraying water, you’re not solving the problem. You’re delaying it.

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Find out about biological dust control for your site