Citic Pacific Mining approached Coates Hire in May 2008 seeking reverse osmosis desalination equipment to supply clean water to meet human consumption and construction purposes on the Iron Ore project at Cape Preston, Karratha.

A range of reverse osmosis desalination equipment that can change any brackish or sea water into pure drinking water is available from Coates Hire. Reverse osmosis desalination equipment is ideal for use in remote projects when scheme water is not available.

Reverse osmosis is a common form of desalination that involves the removal of salts and other minerals out of the water as it is forced through a semi-permeable membrane under extreme pressures.

A recent solution on pre-filtration and dosing to eliminate both sediment and bacteria was developed to solve the initial problem of active bacteria which was attacking the stainless steel components of reverse osmosis equipment. This enabled the production of clean water to Cape Preston to grow to the targeted amount of 1 million litres a day.

Coates hire desalination equipment is also being used on the following projects:

  • Oxiana at Golden Grove
  • Apache at Devil Creek
  • Oz Minerals at Prominent Hill
Coates Hire now have 18 reverse osmosis desalination units in their fleet, varying in size from 8kl -200kl per day with orders in place to construct two new 200kl to fill confirmed orders.