Expanding the Water Knowledge Baseline: Phase 3 Begins
CEEC International has commenced Phase 3 of the Water Knowledge Baseline in collaboration with The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI). The project forms part of CEEC’s Global Water Initiative, which supports collaboration and knowledge-sharing to improve water management across the mining and minerals sector.
The first stages of the project focused on establishing the Water Knowledge Baseline, creating an accessible, structured foundation that captures and communicates key areas of knowledge relating to mine water management. With that foundation now in place, Phase 3 shifts the focus from establishing the baseline to expanding and strengthening it.
Building on the public report released in February 2026, this next phase will broaden the baseline’s coverage of mine water management in Latin America and support its continued evolution as a trusted knowledge resource for the mining and minerals sector.
The work will incorporate additional knowledge on topics such as snow and glacier hydrology; operational water risks such as floods, debris flows and glacial lake outbursts; and water supply. Relevant case studies and references will also be updated, drawing on Spanish and Portuguese-language sources where appropriate.
The project will also investigate how artificial intelligence could support the future maintenance and expansion of the Water Knowledge Baseline. This discovery work will consider the trustworthiness of source information, the accuracy of AI-supported extraction, and the workflows and safeguards required to apply these tools responsibly.
“Effective water management requires access to trusted, relevant and continuously evolving knowledge,” said CEEC Executive President Heather Ednie. “This next phase will strengthen the Water Knowledge Baseline by incorporating important Latin American perspectives, while helping us understand how emerging tools such as AI could responsibly support its ongoing development.”
Professor Neil McIntyre from SMI’s Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining said the next phase would bring together expertise from both SMI in Australia and SMI Chile to build on the structure established through the earlier work and address identified regional and technical gaps.
“The initial work established a framework for capturing and communicating the breadth of knowledge required for effective mine water management,” Professor McIntyre said. “Through collaboration between SMI and SMI-Chile, Phase 3 gives us the opportunity to expand that framework with deeper Latin American knowledge and assess how the baseline can be maintained and updated efficiently without compromising the quality or trustworthiness of its content.”
The Water Knowledge Baseline was developed to provide mining and minerals professionals with a structured introduction to key water-related themes, including hydrology, hydrogeology, water quality and treatment, monitoring, operational risks, regulation and stakeholder considerations. It is intended as a practical starting point that guides users towards further technical information, methodologies and expertise.
Access the current Water Knowledge Baseline report.
Phase 3 is scheduled to be completed in December 2026