BQE Water says it has been awarded its first contract to deliver a sulphidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening (SART) plant in China.

The contract, at a gold metallurgical facility owned and operated by Shandong Zhongkuang Group Co in eastern China, was awarded following the positive outcome of the engineering feasibility study and on-site testing completed by BQE Water earlier in the year, the company said.

The contract consists of two project phases. In the first phase, BQE Water will provide all aspects of the plant design, engineering support during procurement and construction, and plant commissioning, it said. This initial phase is to be completed within the next 12 months.

In the second phase, BQE Water will provide ongoing operations support services for a period of five years and will be paid a quarterly service fee based on plant performance.

David Kratochvil, President & CEO of BQE Water, said: “We are very excited about this project which enables BQE Water to demonstrate our leadership in SART technology in China and to execute the project using a business model that generates recurring revenues from technological know-how and services without the need for capital investment.

“I would also like to acknowledge the positive role that funding and advisory services from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) has played in allowing us to accelerate research in clean Canadian technologies such as SART in China.”

Songlin Ye, Vice President for Asia at BQE Water, said: “The success of our operations at the Guoda gold smelter some 20 km away from the Zhongkuang site and our partnership with MWT Water Treatment Project Limited Co, were both instrumental in establishing the commercial framework for this project.

“SART implementation is the first step in the bigger picture of modernising cyanide management and waste treatment at the Zhongkuang metallurgical processing facility. The success of SART may open new opportunities to help us develop a long-term relationship with Zhongkuang.”

BQE Water calls itself a global leader in the SART process which enables cyanide consumed by base metals to be recovered and recycled, lowering the cost of gold extraction and reducing the environmental footprint of gold mining projects. The company also provides solutions to manage the by-products of cyanidation and cyanide destruction such as ammonia, nitrite and thiocyanate removal.