CASPEO at the Congress of the French Mineral Industries Society (SIM) 2026

This year, the 75th Congress of the French Mineral Industries Society 2026 will take place from October 6-9 in Châlons-en-Champagne. Come to discover CASPEO’s approach on water and wastewater management in mineral processing!

SIM 2026: Water at the center of the conversation

With the theme “Water: an essential resource and strategic Issue,” this 75th edition is fully attuned to contemporary realities and challenges, combining industrial performance, environmental responsibility, and a vision for the future.

Water is everywhere in mineral processing. It carries ore through flotation circuits. It separates solids from liquids in thickeners and filters. It transports tailings, cools equipment, and washes products. Without water, most processing plants stop.

But water is also a liability. During processing, it accumulates fine particles, colloids, and dissolved substances. Recycling it reduces consumption and degrades its quality. Before discharge, it requires physicochemical treatment. And the regulations governing discharge quality are tightening everywhere.

Managing water in a mineral processing plant is not just an environmental requirement. It is an engineering problem that affects recovery, product quality, and operating costs.

CASPEO at the SIM 2026, booth #H11

Visit the full CASPEO team at booth H11 in the SIM exhibition.

We bring 20 years of experience in process engineering for mineral processing and extractive metallurgy plants. Our approach combines software and consulting across the full data chain: sampling, data reconciliation, process simulation, flowsheet optimization, and metallurgical accounting.

At booth H11, you can:

1. • See live demonstrations of BILCO (data reconciliation), USIM PAC (process simulation), and ECHANT (sampling error calculation)
   • Discuss your process challenges with our engineers
   • Pick up free trial codes for BILCO and ECHANT
   • Learn about our consulting services in sampling audits, process optimization, and metallurgical accounting

CASPEO speaks during the Workshop 4: process and wastewater assessment and treatment

On Thursday October 8, CASPEO contributes to Workshop 4: “Process and wastewater: assessment and physicochemical treatment.”

Workshop chair: Stéphane Brochot, Co-Managing Director, CASPEO

Water plays a role in every stage of quarry and mine operations. It is an asset for processing extracted materials and concentrating valuable elements. But it must be managed rigorously and treated before discharge.

During processing, water becomes loaded with fine particles, colloids, and dissolved substances. Recycling it helps reduce consumption — but also contributes to a decline in water quality. Whether to maintain plant performance or to meet discharge requirements, physicochemical treatment is required.

The workshop addresses five questions:

• How can we better manage water and its quality using assessment and simulation tools?
• How can we remove sulfates while seeking to recover them?
• Which combination of technologies best meets the quality requirements for discharged water?
• How does lime help remove undesirable elements and reduce moisture content of solid residues?
• Which more eco-friendly molecules can ensure the coagulation and flocculation necessary for solid-liquid separation?

Presentation by Etienne Braak, CASPEO: assessment and simulation: tools for integrated water management in the mining industry

Etienne will present how process simulation tools can model and optimize water circuits within mineral processing plants. The approach combines mass balance reconciliation with process modelling to track water quality across the entire flowsheet, from fresh water intake through process circuits to discharge.

This is the same data-driven methodology CASPEO applies to metallurgical accounting. Applied to water, it answers questions that most plants currently address by trial and error: What happens to dissolved contaminants when you increase water recycling? Where does the quality degrade fastest? Which treatment step has the most impact on discharge compliance?

Why water management is a process simulation problem

Most mining operations manage water reactively. They measure discharge quality, compare it to permit limits, and adjust treatment when something exceeds the threshold.

Process simulation offers a different approach. By modelling the water circuit alongside the mineral processing flowsheet, you can:

• Predict how changes in ore type affect water quality downstream
• Evaluate the impact of increased water recycling on process performance
• Test treatment scenarios (lime dosing, coagulant selection, thickener configuration) before implementing them on site
• Identify which circuit produces the most problematic water and where treatment is most effective

CASPEO’s USIM PAC process simulation software handles both the mineral processing and the water treatment aspects in a single model. This means you can optimize recovery and water quality at the same time instead of treating them as separate problems that compete for budget.

Water treatment circuit flowsheet with USIM PAC software