Dear Reader,

In January, I received the great news sent out by the organizers of this year’s IMWA conference that, barring another wave of COVID, they plan to host us in person, rather than virtually, in Christchurch, New Zealand, in early November 2022. That was welcome news indeed, and I hope you are all as excited about that prospect as I am. Virtual conferences are not nearly as nice as meeting in person. I hope you have already responded to the call for papers and have submitted an abstract, but if not, you still have some time as abstracts are not due until March 25th. So, if you have not yet submitted an abstract, please put this issue down and start writing! For more up to date information, please go to: www.IMWA2022.info. Meanwhile, to whet your appetite, the first paper in this issue addresses mine water problems in New Zealand.

Regarding this journal, Anne Weber and I think it is time to publish some papers on how global warming is affecting and is expected to affect mine water. In much of the world, water is becoming a scarce resource due to climate change. The scarcer that water becomes, the better it must be protected from contamination, and the more frequently conflicts of use will arise. Meanwhile, converting from fossil fuels to a more carbon neutral economy is changing what is being mined and the world’s mining priorities, which in turn has mine water implications.

We are not going to try to organize a special issue on these topics; instead, we want to make this an open-ended invitation. We will publish the papers on this topic as they come in, and if we have multiple papers on this subject ready to be published, we will group them together in an issue. For those of you who want to share your perspective or experiences, we have the IMWA Insight option—tell the international mine water community how global warming and the accompanying changes in weather patterns is affecting mine water issues where you live. For those of you who are already wrestling with some aspect of this problem and can provide relevant case studies, or some innovative solutions, please prepare and submit a technical communication or a technical article. For advice on which option would be most appropriate, a rough guide can be found at: www.IMWA.info/notes-for-contributors.html. Or just send us an email at: editor@MWEN.info and tell us your ideas and what questions you have.

I also want to share a personal detail: as many of you know, I have been working as a part-time consultant for the past ten years. However, I have decided to retire from that. Oh, if someone brings me an interesting mine water problem that I can help with, I am more than willing to dive in, but I will not be looking for work. And I am not concerned about having too much time on my hands, as editing this journal has always consumed as much free time as I had available.

As you may recall, last March’s issue was a special issue and so did not contain this column. That means that unlike previous years, I did not get a chance to recognize and thank all of you who contributed by reviewing one or more papers for us. So, here is a list of all of the approximate 850 individuals who reviewed one or more papers for us in 2020 or 2021:

Rouzbeh Abbasi, Mauricio Abdallah, Ahmed Abdelaal, Janith Tharanga Abeywickrama, A. Ghosh Abhilash, Tamiru Abiye, Carolina Abreu, Louis Ackah, Michael Ackerson, Terry Ackman, Russell Adams, Amos Adeniyi, Maria Jose Afonso, Azadeh Agah, Elif Agartan, Pociecha Agnieszka, Hans Agurto-Detzel, Imtiaz Ahmad, Ali Ahmadi, Carolina Ahumada, Yassine Ait Brahim, Anasse Ait Lemkademe, Tom Al, Lena Alakangas, Md Shahabul Alam, Julie Albrecht, Marwan Alheib, Michael Ali, Farshad Alijani, Brian J. Alloway, Mohamed al-Mamun, Eduardo Alonso, Carlos del Alonso, Michael Altenbockum, Ramón Álvarez Rodríguez, Radwan Al-Weshah, Kamel Al-zboon, Juarez Amaral Filho, Jaime Amezaga, Felix Yebo Amoako, Richard Amos, Baifu An, H.M. Anawar, John Annandale, Mohammad Arzoo, Ansari Margarida Antunes, Dimas Apaza, Enrique Aracil Ávila, David Arcos, Elsa Aristodemou, Ali Ekrem Aritan, M. A. Armienta, Margaret Armstrong, Hasan Arslanoäÿlu, Ahmad Aryafar, Gholamreza Asadollahfardi, Paul Ashley, Mehdi Assareh, Ayse Dilek Atasoy, Steve Atkin, Lee Atkinson, Tim Aubel, Michel Aubertin, Paula Avila, Carlos Ayora, Bernadette Azzie, Olubukola Babalola, Soile Backnas, Mattias Bäckström, Haibo Bai, Dragoljub Bajic, Anjali Bala, Nurgul Balci, Magdalena Balintova, Eduardo Balladares, Selina Bamforth, Adriano Bandeira, Jill Banfield, David Banks, Luis Barbero, Astrid Barkleit, Andrew Barnes, Damian Barrett, Pamela Barrett, Rebecca Bartlett, Moubie Bassole, Lesley Batty, Thomas Baumgartl, Richard Beam, Jenny Bearcock, Roger Beckie, Mehrnoosh Behrooz, Gabor Bekesi, Tikou Belem, Russell Bell, Silvana Beltran, Oscar Benavente, Hassan Benfetta, Gerardo Benito, Mostafa Benzaazoua, Keith Berry, Andy A. Bery, Nico Bezuidenhout, Dipanwita Bhakat, Jayanta Bhattacharya, Kevin Biggar, Felix Bilek, Jean Birks, Leonardo Bissacot, Arkoprovo Biswas, Jean-Francois Blais, Melanie Blanchette, Katharina Blaurock, Amelie Blondel, David Blowes, Li Bo, Teresa Bodas, Anna Bogush, Robert C. Borden, Anastasia Boronina, Svetlana Bortnikova, José Antonio Botín, Peter Bourne Webb, Hassan Bouzahzah, Lawrence Bowden, Robert Bowell, Lindsay Bowker, Elke Bozau, John Bradley, Keith Brady, Washington Braida, Charlotte Braungardt, Rachael Brennan, Detlef Bringemeier, Graca Brito, Stefan Broda, Serge Brouyère, Adrian Brown, Jordi Bruno, Przemysław Bukowski, William Burgos, Ian Burke, Edward Burton, Richard Bush, Bruno Bussiere, Moises Oswaldo Bustamante Rúa, Barbara Butler, José Antonio Butragueño, Frantisek Buzek, David Cãrdova, Marina Cabral Pinto, Tomy Caliskan, Dandy Calla Choque, Ian Callow, David Camp, Beatrice Campanella, Carlos Ruiz Canovas, Marco Capello, Manuel Caraballo, Alejandro Carrillo Chavez, Brian Caruso, Corinne Casiot-Marouani, Devin Castendyk, Peter Castiglia, Julio Castillo, Francisco Castrillón-Muñoz, Álvaro Jesús Castro Caicedo, Lionel Catalan, Mario Fernando Cedrón Lassus, Venkata Chada, Myung Chae Jung, David Chambers, Li Chaofeng, Marita Chappuis, Tianhu Chen, Tao Chen, Chen Shi, Chen Qinglin, Chen Chen-Tung Arthur, Cheong Youngwook, Chin Yu-Ping, Tomasz Chmielewski, Michel Chouteau, Rosa Cidu, Malgorzata Ciosmak, Malcolm Clark, Will Clements, Henk Coetzee, Paulina Concha Larrauri, Richard Connelly, Sirio Consani, Andrew Copeland, Natalia Cornet, Maria Costa, Jean Cote, Lucie Coudert, Cecil Coutinho, Bruce Craig, Thomas Cramer, Charles Cravotta III, Dave Craw, Cui Fangpeng, Richard S. Cutting, Mariusz Czop, Stefania Da Pelo, Archan Dabadi, Carlos D’Abreu, Jaak Daemen, Gayathri Danasamy, Martin Dangelmayr, W. Lee Daniels, Tracey Davies, José Miguel Dávila Martín, Andy Davis, Luiz de Andrade Lima, Jose de Castro, Mike de Freitas, Giovanni De Giudici, José N. de Piérola Canales, Andrew Dean, Julien Declercq, Carlos del Olmo, Isabelle Demers, Dongyang Deng, David Dettrick, Ratnakar Dhakate, Biswaranjan Dhal, Luis Carlos Diaz, Jesus Diaz Curiel, Ludo Diels, Adrien Dimech, Dimitris Dimitrakopoulos, Rayna Dimitrova, Enrico Dinelli, Craig Divine, Bernhard Dold, Josep Dolz, Pascal Dominique, Edgardo Donati, Dong Xiaohua, Dong Donglin, Mark Dopson, Blair Douglas, Grant Douglas, Stephen Douglas, Zheyuan Du, Hongyu Duan, Ian Duggan, Lucila Dunnington, Jose F. Martin Duque, Nuno Duraes, Dipanwita Dutta, Ted Eary, Mohamed Edahbi, Harry Edenborn, Mansour Edraki, Scott Effner, R. Egashir, Johnbosco Egbueri, Paul Eger, Davidson Egirani, Mehmet Ekmekci, William Eldridge, Terry Eldridge, Abdellatif Elghali, Trevor Elliot, Richard Elmer, Rodrigo Embile Jr., Iman Entezari, Sk. Equeenuddin, Hadi Eslami, Abbas Esmaeili, Adriano Espeschit, Jose Antonio Espi, Anita Etale, Lee Evans, Goktug Evin, Marlese Fairgray, Fan Rong, Fan Gangwei, Ali Farsi, Ben B. Faulkner, Marcelo Fenelon, Cui Feng, Carla Ferrari, Julio Ferreira, Eduardo Ferreira da Silva, Lucas Fidelis, Linda Figueroa, Beatriz Firpo, Mark Fitch, Campbell Fleming, Andrew Fletcher, Hernan Flores, Roberto Flores Jimenez, Steve Forgeron, John Fortuna, Andy Fourie, A. J. Francis, Sascha Frank, Franco Frau, Kurt Friese, Ken Fritz, Gerhard Furrer, Jason Furtney, Michael Gabora, John Gale, Juliana Galhardi, Christopher Gammons, Weifu Gao, Cristobal Garcia, Felipe Garcia, Francisco Garcia, Emmanuel Gaucher, Simon Gautrey, Gwendelyn Geidel, Janos Geiger, Joern Geletneky, Walter Geller, Antonio Gens, Thomas Genty, Raoof Gholami, Lachlan Gibbins, Gavin Gillmore, Mugera Gitari, Wilson Gitari, Erwan Gloaguen, Paul Godfrey, Elaine Goetz, David Gold, Cleber Gomes, Dulce Nombre Maria Gómez Limón, Noemi Gonzales, Felix Gonzalo, Ángel Granda Sanz, Donald H. Gray, Harma Greben, Helena Guasch, Jordi Guimera, Vinod Kumar Gupta, James Gusek, Jon Petter Gustafsson, José Gregorio Gutiérrez Chacón, John Hadjigeorgiou, Rachid Hakkou, Howard Hall, Douglas Hambley, Richard Hammack, Jane Hammarstrom, Gregory R. Hancock, Carol Harden, Ed Hardwick, John Harman, Mike Harold, Pat Hatcher, Chris Hatton, Intvan Hatvani, Jay Hawkins, He Yujiang, He Xuwen, Katherine Heal, Robert Hedin, Sabrina Hedrich, Ben Heinrich, Gyorgy Heltai, Aurora Hernandez, Carmen Hidalgo, Pablo Leon Higueras Higueras, Gavin Hilson, Brandon Holzbauer-Schweitzer, Paul Howe, M. Farhad Howladar, Hu Litang, Carlos Hubner, Amy Hudson, Karen Hudson-Edwards, Theresa Hughes, Altus Huisamen, Andrew Hursthouse, Ian Hutchison, Askoa Ibisate, Jan Ilavsky, Matthew Ind, Jerome Jacob, Hadi Jafari, Manish Jain, Heather Jamieson, Eberhard Janneck, Chad Jarolimek, Michelle Jarvie, Adam Jarvis, Mulopo Jean, Christian Jersabek, Jiang Xiaozhen, Jin Yaomin, Cheng Jiu-long, Karen Johnson, Barrie Johnson, Allison Johnston, Andrew Johnstone, Ashley Jones, David Richard Jones, James Jones, Győző Jordán, Dawn S. Kaback, Candace Kairies-Beatty, Anna Kaksonen, Margarete Kalin, Biswa Kar, Stefan Karlsson, Rennie Kaunda, Päivi Kauppila, Yang Ke, Vladislav Kecojevic, Deanna Kemp, Tania Kennedy, Dale Kerper, Gemma Kerr, Tulay Ekemen Keskin, Sameer Khaitan, Elena Khayrulina, Afshin Khoshand, Yaser Kianinia, Pamela Alejandra Kikot, Yeongkyoo Kim, Duk-Min Kim, Teemu Kinnarinen, Carl Kirby, Lisa Kirk, Bob Kleinmann, Kay Knoller, Klaus-Holger Knorr, Anna Knox, Christian Koch, Petr Konicek, Sarah Kreitzer, Natalie Kruse, Christoph Kulls, R. Naresh Kumar, Kirsten Kusel, Faradiella Kusin, Nural Kuyucak, Hanna Kyllönen, Julie LaBar, Krzysztof Labus, Thomas Lachmar, Ricardo Lain, Elango Lakshmanan, Upmanu Lall, Karina Lange, Lucila Lantschner, Kim Lapakko, Tania Laurencont, Gregory Lawrence, James Lazorchak, Emmanuel Ledoux, Roger Lee, Liliana Lefticariu, Bruno Lemiere, Frederico Lemos, Maggy Lengke, Denise Levitan, Li Xiang-dong, Li Xiang, Li Peiyue, Li Li, Li Guangbin, Zhang Lianyang, Leon Liebenberg, Lin Gang, Lin Lixiang, Matt Lindsay, Liu Zaibin, Liu Weitao, Liu Weiqun, Liu Shouqiang, Liu Shiliang, Haroldo Luis Lledó Vázquez, Mauro Lobo, Chazanne Long, Juan Antonio López Geta, Jorge Loredo, Simon Lorentz, Bernd Lottermoser, David Love, Fubo Luan, Andreas Luek, Ana Teresa Luis, Mark Lund, Jianchao Ma, Ferenc Mádai, Deepesh Machiwal, Francisco Macias, Mariusz Madrala, Godfrey Madzivire, Ann Maest, Benjamin Mafa, Michele Mahoney, Alfonso Maldonado Zamora, Robert Maliva, Piotr Małkowski, Pride Mangeya, Malibongwe Manono, Luis Mansilla, José Ignacio Manteca, Tynan Marais, Eric Marchand, Pietro Marescotti, Radmila Markovic, Joaquín Marti, Tomás Martín Crespo, Julian Martínez, Roque Martínez Molin, Pedro Martínez-Pagán, Vhahangwele Masindi, Peter Mason, Romy Matthies, Trevor Matuschka, Will Mayes, Mamert Mbonimpa, Cherie McCullough, Louis McDonald, Matthew McGann, Gord McKenna, Rowan McKittrick, Wendy McLean, Harvey McLeod, Mark Megaughin, Jutta Meier, Christian Melchers, Juan María, Menéndez Aguado, Meng Xiangxi, Broder Merkel, Wendy Mey, Steven Meyerhoff, Hugh Middlemis, Flavio Miguez de Mello, Glenn C. Miller, Daniel Miller, Matthew Minnick, Mina Mirzajani, Hani Mitri, Martin Mkandawire, Raul Mollehuara Canales, Norbert Montgomeri, David Moore, S.M. Moosavirad, Christopher Moran, César Augusto Moreira, Ferenc Moricz, Kevin Morin, Mark Morris, Kym Morton, Jacek Motika, Amir Motlagh, Leandro Moura Filho, Pierre Mousset-Jones, Maria Moustaka-Gouni, Mathews Mthembu, Gavin Mudd, Ron Mullennex, Jean Mulopo, Leonard Murray, Jesica Murray, Kevin Myers, Thomas Myers, Nadia Mykytczuk, Robert Nairn, Ivan Nancucheo, Peter Nason, Andres Navarro, Carmen Neculita, Gustavo Neira, Raisa Neitola, Ronald Neufeld, Tim Newson, Herminio Nieto, Brigitte Nixdorf, Dev Niyogi, Kirk Nordstrom, Rebecca North, Freeman Ntuli, Oupa Ntwampe, Mathieu Nuth, Paul Oberholster, Carolyn Oldham, Manuel Olias, Joscha Opitz, Sanaz Orandi, Almudena Ordóñez, Natalia Orekhova, Ahmet Osmanlioglu, Kaveh Ostad-Ali-Askari, Thomas Pabst, Sanjit Kumar Pal, Argyris Panagopoulos, Daniel Panique Lazcano, Nora Hilda Panos, Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Ilhwan Park, Brian Park, Manuel Pastor, Michael Paul, Daniele Pedretti, Stefan Peiffer, Ayse Peksezer-Sayit, Rafael Pérez-López, Eric Perry, Marc Pidou, Chris Pietsch, Teresa Pi-Puig, Benoit Plante, Howard Plewes, John Plunquett, Walter Pohl, Krzysztof Polak, John Pottiie, José Manuel Poveda, Bably Prasad, Caius Priscu, Pawel Prokop, Xunchi Pu, Petra Pulišová, Jiazhong Qian, Wei Qiao, Bai Qingsheng, Asif Qureshi, Muhit Rahman, Amanj Rahman, Marja Liisa Räisänen, Tsiverihasina Rakotonimaro, Dyllon Randall, Jim Ranville, Nada Rapantova, Atta Rasool, Antony Ravindran, Jasmin Raymond, Simona Regenspurg, Ramos Rene, Jo Renshaw, Mohammed Rezaee, Mohammad Rezaei, Elisabeth Richardson, Guy Riefler, Alex Riley, Patrice Rivard, Benoit Rivard, Ricardo Rivera, Christofer Robben, Alan Robertson, María Dolores Rodríguez, María Dolores, Rodríguez del Pino, Tobias Roetting, Rubén Roldán, Benjamin Roman, Carles Roque, Nieves Roqueñí, Arthur Rose, Adam Rose, Kerry Rowe, Angus Rowland, Claude Roy, Rafael Fernández Rubio, Eduardo Ruiz, Rob Runkel, Liudmila Rybnikova, Sergi Sabater, Priyanka Saha, Prafulla Sahoo, Atsushi Sainoki, David Salmon, Ursula Salmon, Javier Sampedro-Duran, M. Sánchez Sánchez, Javier Sánchez-España, Senen Sandoval, Cara Santelli, Leonard Santisteban, María Santisteban, Jose Luis Sanz Contreras, Shibayan Sarkar, Christopher Satterley, Serkan Saydam, Petra Schneider, Martin Schultze, Russell Schumann, Michelle Schwartz, Brendan Scott, John Senko, Zhenlu Shao, Shikha Sharma, Jonathan Sharp, Shi Longqing, Shi Bin, Elwira Sienkiewicz, Jeffrey Simmons, Douglas B. Sims, Alison Sinclair, Abhay Singh, Kamini Singha, Kuldeep Singh, Alok Sinha, Venkataraman Sivasankar, Jonny Sjöberg, Jeff Skousen, Kathleen S. Smith, Kathleen Smits, Bronislaw Smolski, Andre Sobolewski, Stephanie Somot, A. K. Soni, Peter Sottnik, Ryszard Staniszewski, Covelli Stefano, Gideon Steyl, Leonard Stöckl, David Stone, William Strosnider, Thomas Suchanek, Sui Wanghua, Sun Zhanxue, Sun Zhanxue, Sun Yajun, Sun Wenjie, Sun Qiang, Sun Jing, Surya Sunkavalli, Tomasz Suponik, Eric Swanson, Zoltan Szabo, Ewa Szarek-Gwiazda, Jacek Szczepinski, Carlito Tabelin, Yassine Taha, Cyro Takano, Andy Take, Vladimir Tarasov, Travis Tasker, Javad Tavakoli, Jason Tavares, Marcelo Taylor de Lima, Faraz Tehrani, Luiz Teixeira, Jose Luis Tejera, Enrico Tesser, Ashwani Tiwari, Emma-Tuulia Tolonen, Cliff Tonsberg, Mauricio Torem, Balazs Trasy, Quentin Travis, Daniel Tsang, Hlanganani Tutu, Wilfried Uhlmann, Kai-Uwe Ulrich, Corine Unger, Brent Usher, Viswanath Vadapalli, Teresa Valente, Mohammad Valipour, Robert van Everdingen, Rob van Hille, Juan Pablo Vargas Norambuena, Yaneth Vasquez, Eleni Vassiliou, Marcello Veiga, Julio Verdejo Serrano, James Verdon, Phil Verplanck, Miran Veselic, José Luis Villa, Frans Waanders, Sanghranta Waghmare, Ingar Walder, Zack Walter, Thomas Walter, Katherine Walton-Day, Wang Zhengyang, Wang Shaobin, Wang Peng, Wang Hao, Wang Hailong, Wang Changshen, Wang Bing, Richard Wanty, John Waterhouse, John Wates, George Watzlaf, Linda Weavers, Wei Xinchao, Florian Werner, Bruce Wielinga, Richard Wilkin, David Williams, Carl Williams, Mark Williamson, Justin Willis, Gordon Ward Wilson, Frank Winde, Amanda Winegardner, Brandon Winfrey, Andrzej Witkowski, Thomas Wohlford, Christian Wolkersdorfer, Andrew Wood, Magdalena Worsa-Kozak, Wu Wenbing, Wu Shubaio, Wu Qiang, Wu Jianhua, Wei Xinchao, Xu Yongxin, Xu Ke, Xu Hao, Xu Zhimin, Xue Zuo, Xue Guoquiang, Yan Ruiwen, Ernest Yanful, Yang Jian, Yang J.X., Bisrat Yibas, Yin Shangxian, Yin Huiyong, Yu Qing, Yuan Junhong, Yue Zhengbo, Yue Hui, Francisco Zabala, Jorge Zafra, Gerald Zagury, Kendra Zamzow, María Teresa Zandarin, Mario Zarroca Hernández, Zhang Shuai, Zhang Shichuan, Zhang Qingsong, Zhang Qian, Zhang Hong, Zhang Chenming, Chunhu Zhao, Zhou Wanfang, Zhou Jianwei, Zhou Feng-shan, Zhou J. Ming Zhuang, Paul Ziemkiewicz, Robert Zimmermann, Janice Zinck, and José Antonio Zuazo. Thank you, one and all!

We try to spread the work out appropriately so as not to overburden our reviewers, which is why it takes so many reviewers. On behalf of the entire editorial team and all of the authors, I thank all of those listed above for taking the time to provide good constructive criticism. We depend on your input to help the authors improve their manuscripts and to help us decide which submissions should be published. If you don’t see your name on this list, and you would like to help, please go to our journal’s web site (www.IMWA.info/em) and make sure that your areas of expertise are clearly identified, as we use those to select our reviewers. This enables us to select manuscripts for you to review that you may find very interesting. If your areas of expertise are described and you have not yet been asked, just send us an e-mail and we will make sure that you receive an opportunity to help in 2022.

In addition to all of these reviewers, I also want to thank our authors, without which there would be no journal, and you, our dedicated readers, without whom there would be no reason for this journal to exist. I, and the rest of the editorial team, are grateful for your interest and participation in this journal and IMWA.


Best Regards,


Bob Kleinmann, PhD; Editor-in-Chief.

editor@MWEN.info.