A true story of salt removal from mine ponds?

In addition to this blog, I write serious engineering stuff for TechnoMine.  Every-so-often there comes across my desk a technology or engineering application that makes it into the serious stuff…and very infrequently I post here something about a technology or product.  The basis of such is decision is just that that is what I feel like doing. 

Here is information about one such company that came across my desk.  It caught my eye when I notice the addresses: Glendale and La Canada in California.  Many years back I frequented those places with now good memories. 

About the mining-related part of its business, their web sites says:

Mining, mineral processing, and quarry operations produce large volumes of often saline and acidic effluent which are huge by any scale and require large storage areas and complex water transfer systems. A common problem with mining effluent storage basins and tailing dams relate to increasing salinity leading to reduced evaporative capacity and hence the need for more pondage. Geo has significant experience with integrated design of treatment systems and evaporation ponds to enhance evaporation rates and minimize land requirements. Also, improving the quality of process water in mineral processing operations, using Geo’s innovative selective salt extraction methods, is a distinct technology advantage to the benefit of this industry.

 

I searched in vain for information about how this all works.  The most I found was this:

SAL-PROC^TM is a patented, integrated process for the sequential or selective extraction of dissolved elements from inorganic saline waters in the form of valuable salts and chemical compounds (mineral, slurry, and liquid form). Depending on the chemical composition of the saline feed water the process route may involve one or more steps of reaction and evapo-cooling supplemented by conventional mineral and chemical processing steps. The technology is based on simple closed-loop processing and fluid flow circuits, which enable the partial or comprehensive treatment of inorganic saline streams for recovery of valuable byproducts. These process steps lead to significant salt load and volume reduction which minimize the requirements for effluent discharge.

There it is.  Get back to us if you have successfully used this technology.  It all sounds too good and too vague to judge.