The companies are also completing an agreement for the operation and maintenance of the facility, which will be built in the northern town of Mannington and service Consol’s Blacksville No. 2, Loveridge and Robinson Run mines when it goes online in 2013.
Consol called Veolia, which has more than 155 years of water treatment experience, a “perfect partner” as its expertise would be key to the efficient design and operation of a system that could treat high volumes of complex mine water from its operations.
"They bring design and operational experience with over 75 zero liquid discharge plants around the world,” Consol senior vice-president of environmental strategy and regulatory affairs Katharine Fredriksen said.
The facility’s final design phase should be completed within the next few months, while construction is expected to start in July and full operation should begin by May 13.
The project is expected to create about 200 construction jobs over the next two-and-a-half years, as well as 20 permanent jobs to staff the facility.
The Veolia team, Consol noted, will utilize primarily local personnel through its Pittsburgh office and local construction partners.
Blacksville, Loveridge and Robinson Run are all longwall operations in northern West Virginia, and all extract from the Pittsburgh 8 seam. They are among the producer’s 11 bituminous coal mining complexes in five states.