Wheal Jane - Operation and Maintenance

Tender description

In partnership with Defra and The Environment Agency, The Coal Authority delivers the 'Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme' (WAMM) to help tackle the problem of metal mine pollution and deliver the objectives of the Government's 25 Year Environment Plan and statutory River Basin Management Plans. The Coal Authority seeks to let a 10 year operation & maintenance contract for the Wheal Jane mine water treatment scheme near Truro, Cornwall. The existing operating contract ends in October 2020. The Wheal Jane mine water treatment scheme treats mine water pumped from below ground using a high density sludge process. The resultant sludge is pumped to a dam and the treated water is discharged to a stream. In a typical year approximately 6 million cubic metres of mine water is abstracted, 600 tonnes of metal contaminants (predominantly iron and zinc) are removed and 2,000 tonnes of hydrated lime, 7,000 kg of anionic flocculant and 3,000 MW-h of power are consumed. In addition to the operating plant, the plant infrastructure includes a workshop, storage facilities and office space. The plant is fully manned 8am - 4pm Mon-Fri, with an out-of-hours emergency on-call roster in operation. During peak periods, skeleton weekend coverage is sometimes necessary. The service required under the contract is the operation of and planned & preventative maintenance to the mine water treatment plant including: • Carrying out daily checks on the plant, taking samples and carrying out maintenance activities • Making informed adjustments to the treatment process to ensure efficient use of chemicals and power • Procuring chemicals and supervising delivery • Developing and implementing a 10 year asset management programme and maintaining an asset management system • Ensuring compliance with consents, licences and permits and liaising with appropriate regulatory bodies • Adhering to health, safety and environmental standards • Reporting operational costs, safety statistics and performance trends • Provision and management of a database to capture and store plant data Additional services may be instructed and may include: • Project management of capital projects • Managing, supervising and assisting in research & development projects • Providing flow monitoring and water sampling services in the south west region • Emergency works The operating contract will be let under the NEC Term Service Contract. The anticipated time line for issue of tender documents is 15th October 2019 to allow the new operator to be in place by October 2020.