BioteQ Environmental Technologies has signed a final agreement with Birla Mt Gordon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Minerals, for the development and operation of a water treatment facility located at Birla"s Mt Gordon copper mine in Queensland , Australia .

The Mt Gordon mine, located near Mount Isa , Queensland , Australia , currently produces copper concentrate from underground mining and conventional flotation milling operations. Mine drainage from waste dumps and low grade stockpiles is acidic, containing copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals that require treatment prior to discharge of the water. The planned water treatment project is to build a BioteQ ChemSulphide plant for the recovery of a copper product, and a nickel-cobalt product, as well as treat the water to meet local discharge regulations.

Based on preliminary engineering completed by BioteQ, the plant will have the capacity to treat approximately 2200 million litres of acid water per year containing about 545 tonnes of copper and 35 tonnes of cobalt and 10 tonnes of nickel. Following the metal recovery stages the water will be treated to discharge quality and released or recycled at the site. Production estimates are preliminary and are subject to detailed engineering.

Operating costs are expected to be consistent with other BioteQ metal recovery plants and a final capital cost estimate is pending completion of detailed engineering for construction. In addition to favourable project economics to construct a sustainable water treatment facility, the plant will provide environmental benefits to the Mt Gordon mine.

The plant design will be similar in process and size to BioteQ's Raglan operation in Quebec and the Inco North mine facility currently in construction engineering. The current project schedule is to finish plant construction during this year, which is dependent on equipment delivery and applicability of certain existing site infrastructure.

The final agreement signed outlines a build, own, operate commercial arrangement where BioteQ will provide for all project financing, design, construction and operation of the plant. BioteQ will receive 100% of the revenues from metal sales until the capital is repaid, plus an agreed return on investment, then the net revenues from metal sales (gross revenues less certain costs and royalties) will be shared equally with Birla. BioteQ will be the operator of the plant.

BioteQ is establishing itself as a leader in the treatment of acid contaminated water through the use of its patented BioSulphide Process and the ChemSulphide Process. 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.

Meanwhile, based on the continued resource definition and extensional drilling at Mammoth, Aditya Birla has revised the underground mine plan and the mine life has been extended to the end of next year (previously this year). The Mt Gordon resource has been maintained (after allowing for mining depletion) at 495,000 tonnes of contained copper metal. Importantly, 68% of the resource is now classified into the higher confidence measured and indicated categories under the JORC Code.

As the Mammoth orebodies are steeply plunging in narrow lenses, infill and extensional drilling of the resource is incremental yearly as underground development permits access for drilling. There is potential for further resource additions and consequent mine life extension. www.bioteq.ca www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au

News sourced from International Mining Project News - www.im-mining.com