Weather is important to mining industries as severe weather can interrupt production and operators may need to implement emergency plans for certain weather events such as rainstorms / hurricanes / extreme cold.
The water balance is a key metric for all mine sites. Often there is only finite storage capacity in holding ponds and tailings storage facilities. Contingency plans will need to be developed if existing storage capacity is set to be exceeded. The volume of water to be pumped out of a pit or an underground mine will have a direct correlation with precipitation rates (underground workings will typically lag depending on their depth) - tracking the cumulative totals for precipitation within a given time period allows a mine operator ensure that sufficient water pumping and treatment capacity is in place to dewater the mine and ensure no impact on the environment. Other parameters such as wind speed may be required as wind speed is a critical parameter when planning lifting operations. Mine operators need access to good reliable long-range forecasting as well as more frequent forecasting.
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