 BioteQ commissioned its water treatment plant in April 2008 at the Dexing Mine in China, in a 50/50 joint venture with Jiangxi Copper Company Ltd., China’s largest copper mining company. The Dexing plant is the first of 6 projects identified in the joint venture agreement signed in 2006 between BioteQ and Jiangxi Copper Company. The plant removes copper using BioteQ’s proprietary ChemSulphide® process, and produces treated water that is recycled at the mine site. The project partners share equally in the capital and operating costs, as well as revenues from copper recovered. BioteQ manages the plant operations.
The Dexing copper mine, located near Dexing City in Jiangxi Province, China, currently produces 120,000 tonnes of copper concentrate per year from flotation concentrate and also operates a heap leach using SX-EW to produce copper cathode from low grade stockpiles. Daily production at the mine is 100,000 tonnes of ore and the current resource provides 50 years of operation at current production rates. Mine drainage from waste dumps and low grade stockpiles is acidic and contains copper.
In its first six months of operations from April 1 to September 30, 2008, the plant treated more than 3 billion litres of water and recovered over 700,000 pounds of copper. The copper concentrate is shipped to Jiangxi Copper Company’s refinery at Guixi City. The volume of water treated is expected to gradually increase over the next several years, as additional water becomes available at the site. The plant has been designed to recover up to 3.6 million pounds of copper annually, when operating at full capacity.
The Dexing water treatment plant won the 2008 China Mining Environmental Protection Award, recognizing BioteQ’s sustainable technology and Jiangxi Copper Company’s leadership in protecting and preserving the environment.
The application of BioteQ’s technology at the Dexing Mine has economic and environmental benefits. The plant:
- Reduces the environmental liability associated with metal-contaminated water.
- Removes heavy metals from the environment, producing saleable metal products that can be recycled into useful products, offsetting the cost of water treatment.
- Produces clean water that is recycled at the mine site.
- Reduces the production of sludge at the site’s lime treatment plant.
- Reduces the overall cost of water treatment at the site.
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