VANCOUVER, BC- BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:BQE) – BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. is pleased to report that it has completed the second full operating season at the Raglan operation in northern Quebec. The water treatment plant was placed in stand-by mode on November 7 for the duration of the winter, which is the normal operating practice for this site. It is expected that normal operations will resume in May of 2007, subject to local weather at that time.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Treated water met all environmental discharge requirements
- Total production during the 2006 operating season exceeded 800,000 m3 of treated water which is 50% greater than the original plant design capacity and exceeded budget expectations by over 100,000 m3 of treated water
- Operating costs were on budget
- Plant received ISO 14001 environmental accreditation which is the highest level of environmental management system compliance
The BioteQ plant started treating water in May of this year and the total treated water discharged from the plant during the operating season was 816,000 cubic meters, which is 16.5% more than the budgeted treatment target for 2006. The original design capacity of the plant was 550,000 cubic meters of treated water each year. The 2006 total water treated is approximately 50% greater than the original design capacity as a result of process modifications made in 2005 as well an increase in operating availability resulting from improved operations management by the operating staff. The treated water was maintained at less than 0.2 parts per million nickel concentration to meet the regulated discharge criteria of less than 0.5 parts per million total nickel content. The plant operating costs for labour and consumables met budget expectations.
BioteQ began planning for ISO 14001 accreditation in 2005. The environmental management system to meet the stringent requirements of ISO 14001 was initiated during the 2005 operating season and the plant received ISO 14001 accreditation this year. This is an important step for BioteQ’s operations group to meet the highest environmental standards in the industry. The ISO 14001 management system will now be implemented at other BioteQ sites.
The Raglan Mine is owned and operated by Xstrata Nickel. The Raglan water treatment plant, owned and operated by BioteQ, is a unique nickel treatment process, utilizing BioteQ’s ChemSulphide™ Process, to selectively recover nickel from low grade wastewater. The treated water quality produced in the BioteQ plant can be released directly into the pristine local environment at Raglan 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.
BioteQ Corporate Profile
BioteQ is establishing itself as a leader in the treatment of acid contaminated water through the use of its patented BioSulphide® Process and related sulphide technologies. Focused on the mining industry, BioteQ has partnered with leading metal producers including Phelps Dodge, Breakwater, INCO, Jiangxi Copper, Codelco and Xstrata as well as utilities operator EPCOR Water Services, to finance, design, build and operate mine site water treatment plants which recover saleable metals in addition to meeting ever stricter environmental regulations.
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On behalf of the Board of Directors
Brad Marchant