BQE BQE Water Inc

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 10, 2024 /CNW/ - BQE Water Inc. (TSXV: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine-impacted waters, reports the successful completion of on-site pilot demonstration of its patented Selen-IX™ process at the Coeur Wharf Mine in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. The demonstration was the first critical step in the process of implementing selenium treatment that meets permit conditions associated with the mine expansion. The project is now fast tracked for full scale implementation in 2024.

Selen-IX was selected as the Best Available Technology (BAT) for this project over biological selenium reduction systems due to several factors including: ability to avoid reliance on dilution by meeting the in-stream limit directly at the end of pipe, performance unaffected by cold water temperatures, ability to operate in intermittent mode, ability to handle large and rapid fluctuations in feed flow, and minimization of residue management costs.

Although there are multiple successful large scale Selen-IX plants currently in operation, Coeur requested the pilot demonstration to verify the process performance on the Wharf mine influenced water prior to initiating engineering design to minimize implementation risks. The pilot phase of the project involved a rapid deployment, start-up, and continuous operation of BQE's mobile Selen-IX™ unit at site. The campaign was accompanied by a rigorous sampling program to monitor process performance under variable feed conditions and included characterization of the selenium solids to inform residue management and disposal in the full scale. Unlike biological systems that do not allow rapid demonstration due to the lengthy process inoculation and acclimation prior to reaching a steady state operation, the Selen-IX process starts to produce on-spec effluent at the design flow immediately and reaches a steady state within days. 

David Kratochvil, President & CEO of BQE Water, commented "I am very proud of our technical team for delivering yet another flawless pilot project execution in close collaboration with the client's operations personnel to meet and exceed all project objectives. This project also demonstrates the unique value of the Selen-IX process for clients with short timelines to reach environmental compliance by treating water at design capacity and producing target effluent water quality immediately after start-up. This feature is critical for Wharf as it fast tracks the full-scale treatment implementation in accordance with the mine permit, and BQE is committed to delivering technical excellence through all stages of the project and have a fifth Selen-IX plant in operation as soon as possible."

BQE Water is a service provider specializing in water treatment and management for metals mining, smelting and refining. We are helping to transform the way the industry thinks about water in the context of natural resource projects by offering services and expertise which enables more sustainable water management practices and improved overall project performance at reduced risks. BQE Water invests in innovation and has developed unique intellectual property through the commercialization of several new technologies at mine sites around the world for organizations including Glencore, Jiangxi Copper, Freeport-McMoRan and the US EPA. BQE Water is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BQE. Visit www.bqewater.com for more information.

The Toronto Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release.

Certain information contained herein may not be based on historical fact and therefore constitutes "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. This includes without limitation statements containing the words "plan", "expect", "project", "estimate", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "may", "will" and other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company's dependence on key personnel and contracts, uncertainty with respect to the profitability of the Company's technologies, competition, technology risk, the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property and proprietary information, fluctuations in commodity prices, currency risk, environmental regulation and the Company's ability to manage growth and other factors described in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators at www.sedarplus.ca (including without limitation the factors described in the section entitled "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022). Given these risks and uncertainties, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking information contained herein is based on management's current expectations and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update such forward-looking information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE BQE Water Inc.