NCGRT-ACSMP workshop: Aquitards, aquifers and mining workshop

Posted 29 April 2014

Aquifers Aquitards & Mining workshop logo

A research workshop on Aquifers, Aquitards and Mining was held 27-28th March 2014 at the School of Mining Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.

The workshop was organised jointly by the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), and the Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP) at UNSW.

Low permeability geological materials known as aquitards, cap rocks and sealing strata play a critical role in:

  • disconnecting or partially disconnecting shallow and deep aquifers;
  • limiting subsurface movement of poor quality water and sequestered waste; and
  • providing a crucial seepage barrier where underlying mineral and energy resources are developed.  

The workshop presented technical developments in characterising aquitards in groundwater systems, and related research in mining and coal seam gas.

More than 60 attendees registered for the workshop and tour of the geotechnical centrifuge and laboratories at the UNSW Manly Vale campus.

Workshop chairperson, Dr Wendy Timms thanked keynote speakers Professor Lee Barbour (University of Saskatchewan, Canada) and Dr Ken Mills (Strata Control Technology) for their contributions focused on mine hydrology, subsidence and mine closure, and invited presenters from UNSW and Flinders University.

Dr Timms and her colleagues look forward to continuing and new collaborations to further develop technologies and systems for sustainable mining initiatives and sustainable water resources.

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