 BioteQ commissioned its wastewater treatment plant in April 2008 at the Mt. Gordon mine owned by Aditya Birla. The plant is currently removing copper, cobalt, and nickel using BioteQ's proprietary ChemSulphide® process to produce saleable metals and clean water. This is a build, own, operate project where BioteQ has put up the capital for the plant, in exchange for 90% of the metals recovered.
The Mt. Gordon mine, located near Mt. Isa in Queensland, Australia, produces copper concentrate from underground mining and conventional flotation milling operations. Mine drainage from waste dumps and low grade stockpiles is acidic, containing copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals that require the wastewater to be treated.
The water treatment plant uses BioteQ's ChemSulphide® process to remove copper, cobalt, and nickel to very low levels. The treated water is then evaporated using standard evaporation methods to maintain the mine site's water balance. During the first six months of operations from April 1 to September 30, 2008, the plant treated over 1 billion litres of water and removed 575,000 pounds of copper and 23,000 pounds of cobalt-nickel product.
The plant has been designed to treat approximately 2.2 billion litres of acid water per year, and can remove approximately 1.4 million pounds of copper, 135,000 pounds of cobalt, and 23,000 pounds of nickel when operating at full capacity.
The Mt. Gordon water treatment plant was named a finalist in two categories for the 2008 Queensland Environmental Protection Agency Sustainable Industries Awards. The plant was recognized in the "Industrial Eco-Efficiency" category and the "Resource Industries Sustainability" category.
The application of BioteQ's technology at Mt. Gordon 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 evaporated to maintain the mine site's water balance.
- Eliminates the production of sludge that would otherwise require long-term storage and management.
- Reduces the overall cost of water treatment at the site.
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