BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. reported its plant located at the Falconbridge Limited’s Raglan Mine in northern Quebec has successfully increased production to reach a treatment capacity of approximately 625,000 cubic meters per year based on a 5 month operating season and 97% operating availability. The plant now has the capacity to treat up to 180 cubic meters of water per hour, a further production increase of 20% compared to the recent increase to 150 cubic meters per hour announced in August, and an overall increase of 50% this season compared with the initial production level of 120 cubic meters per hour.
The increase in production is the result of modifications the company has made as part of planned changes to the plant this year. The treated water quality has remained below 0.15 ppm nickel content, compared to the target treatment objective of 0.5 ppm. BioteQ’s operating costs and the unit cost for operating consumables have remained constant during the production increase. BioteQ is paid monthly treatment fees based on the quantity of water treated.
The Raglan water treatment plant is a unique nickel treatment process to selectively recover nickel from low-grade wastewater. The treated water quality produced in the BioteQ plant can be released directly into a pristine environment, such as the Canadian Arctic, and does not produce any by-product sludge for long-term storage. Patent application is in progress for the BioteQ process that was developed between 2001 and 2003 for the Raglan site, and can be applied to other nickel-bearing waste streams.
Source: BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc.