Vancouver-based BioteQ Environmental Technologies, Inc. will design and build a water treatment plant in Whitehorse at the Minto copper mine owned by Minto Explorations Limited. BioteQ will provide process design, engineering and project management services on a fee basis. Minto Explorations is providing the capital and operating cost of the plant, which is expected to be installed at the mine site before spring runoff in 2010.

The Minto Mine is an active high grade copper mine with gold and silver credits, located 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon. Water treatment operations are seasonal, typically from May to October. BioteQ has provided water treatment services for the 2009 season, treating water containing suspended solids and dissolved metals, and has worked with Minto Explorations to assess long-term water treatment options for the site.

The new water treatment plant will be designed to treat up to 4,000 cubic meters per day of water. The plant will employ BioteQ’s sulphide treatment process to meet extremely low concentrations of metals in treated water that is discharged into the environment. Minto Explorations selected BioteQ’s treatment alternative based on the improvements to water quality achieved during on-site testing this past summer, and the relative ease of the system installation which allows the new permanent treatment plant to be ready for the 2010 operating season. Furthermore, the process is expected to deliver lower life-cycle costs for water treatment compared to alternative processes.

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