DESALINATION TECHNOLOGY APPROACH TO SUPPORT A SUSTAINABLE FRESHWATER SUPPLY IN PT AMMAN MINERAL NUSA TENGGARA

Abstract

Water is the source of life for humans and all creatures living on planet earth. The availability of freshwater is very crucial, especially for people living in water-scarce regions with low water resource-bearing capacity. A similar situation occurs in PT AMMAN Mineral Nusa Tenggara (called PT AMNT) in which the company is in the struggle to equilibrize the freshwater demands versus supplies, especially in line with some major expansion projects in Batu Hijau site. There is an increase in freshwater demands either for the construction phase or future operations to accommodate additional manpower, facilities, and process-water requirements. Currently, PT AMNT is operating groundwater wells in the Sejorong watershed with an average production rate of about 9,000-m³/d in which these major expansion projects lead to any additional freshwater up to 4,500-m³/d that should be supplied from a new water resource out of the existing one to avoid any excessive groundwater abstraction. Finally, a desalination technology becomes an alternative solution as the best option and promising in terms of sustainability point of view after PT AMNT conducted plan to reserve groundwater resource.