Groundwater protection with HDPE geomembranes

Projectdate: 2019-2020
Location: Central Kazakhstan
Products: Supply and installation of AGRU liner: HDPE 1mm, 7x200m, smooth / smooth, 925 400 m2, HDPE 2mm, 7x100m, smooth / smooth, 198 100 m2

Dump leaching is often used in mining to extract gold. The ore extracted in the open pit is used for this purpose piled on geomembranes and sprinkled with cyanide solution. The gold, which is finely distributed in the rock, dissolves as a cyanide complex.


This thermoplastic sealing is a

geomembrane barrier for groundwater protection.


The gold-enriched solution is collected in tanks and the gold is separated. In this project, HDPE geomembranes are used as a barrier layer for groundwater protection.

This thermoplastic sealing is designed for long-term groundwater protection when specified, installed, welded and monitored according to applicable standards. For the storage of by-products of mining after the separation of the ore, mining basins and dams are often required.

These applications place special demands on the resistance of the material as the geomembrane is in constant contact with the aggressive, concentrated media. For such a gold processing plant in Kazakhstan, which also includes a grinding cleaning plant as well as a water reservoir AGRU supplied over one million m² of HDPE geomembranes. The huge amount of geomembranes was professionally installed by our customer using hot gas and hot wedge welding equipment.