International environmental firm SLR Consulting continues to expand the services it offers in southern Africa with the acquisition of Bittner Water Consult (BIWAC), a groundwater consulting firm based in Namibia. The deal is SLR’s fifth acquisition in 20 months and its third in southern Africa in the last year, following the purchase of environmental consultancy Metago and engineering firm GreenEng. Water treatment, management and delivery is the subject of an ever-popular International Mining article, this year in the March issue and tomorrow is the deadline for any editorial contributions to the article.

BIWAC specialises in the sustainable development, protection and management of ground and surface water resources. Recent projects include the groundwater modelling of the Omitiomire copper mine area for Craton Mining and Exploration and specialist groundwater input for the EIA to support the developing Otjikoto gold mine near Otjiwarongo for AuryxGold.

BIWAC does groundwater monitoring and modelling for Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia

Other recent projects include groundwater monitoring for the Marenica uranium mine in the Namib Desert and the development of a regional geohydrological model of the Swakop River catchment as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the ‘Uranium Rush’ in the Erongo Region. This was implemented and sponsored by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the German Geological Survey (BGR).