VANCOUVER, BC, June 20,
2023 /CNW/ - BQE Water Inc. (TSXV: BQE), a
leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, is
extremely honoured to be the recipient of two awards from the
Metallurgy and Materials Society (MetSoc) – the 2023 MetSoc
Innovation Award to the company for its development of the
groundbreaking Selen-IX™ technology for selenium removal from
wastewater and the 2023 MetSoc Sustainability Award to President
& CEO David Kratochvil for his
significant contribution towards addressing critical water
challenges in mining, including leadership in developing
Selen-IX™.
The MetSoc Innovation Award recognizes an outstanding innovation
in the mining industry that has been successfully applied in a
commercial scale operation. Selen-IX™ was developed by BQE Water to
provide mining with an effective industry specific solution to
remove selenium from mine water. While essential for all life,
selenium is released into water in large quantities by mining and
other industrial activities and is toxic at high concentrations.
Selen-IX™ selectively captures selenium from wastewater to produce
treated water compliant with regulatory discharge limits. The only
treatment by-product is a stable non-toxic solid that can be
disposed of onsite or has off-take potential in steel making. Since
its commercialization in 2020, Selen-IX™ has been successfully
applied in three mining and one power generation application, with
other projects in various stages of development.
The MetSoc Sustainability Award promotes innovation and
development in the field of environmental control technology and is
presented to an individual who has made significant contributions
to industry sustainability and environmental issues. David Kratochvil is a chemical engineer with
over 20 years of experience in the treatment and management of mine
water. He is an advocate for a holistic approach to water
challenges and throughout his career has demonstrated leadership in
advancing mine water treatment and management practices to be more
sustainable and generate better outcomes for the environment, local
communities, and the industry. Under his guidance the company has
in the past two decades, developed and commercialized four
treatment technologies that are now used by mines around the world
to produce clean water for safe environmental discharge while
eliminating toxic waste, and in some cases recover value that
significantly offsets overall treatment costs. The most recent
technology was Selen-IX™.
"We are truly honoured and I am personally moved to be awarded
both the MetSoc Innovation and Sustainability Awards for our
efforts and contributions to making our industry more
environmentally responsible and socially acceptable," said
David Kratochvil, President &
CEO at BQE Water. "These awards provide recognition of the
steadfast work put in by our team which resulted in the creation of
a new tool the industry can use to meet selenium regulations in a
holistic manner. This would not have happened if we did not
challenge entrenched views about mine water treatment to go beyond
the principle of 'do no harm' to 'do better'. And we could not have
done this without the support from the many different mining and
power generation companies, industry partners, regulators, and
local communities we worked with, all of whom embraced innovation
and a new way of looking at water."
The awards will be handed out at an Awards Banquet taking place
during the 62nd Annual Conference of Metallurgists (COM)
in Toronto, Ontario from
August 21 to 24, 2023. MetSoc is one
of eleven societies that is part of the Metallurgical Society of
the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)
family. Together, CIM is instrumental in helping mining industry
professionals develop their knowledge and expertise to help build
environmental stewardship, value creation and social responsibility
of the industry.
More information about the awards and the full list of current
winners is available here:
https://metsoc.org/awards-recipients/
About BQE Water
BQE Water is a service provider specializing in water treatment
and management for metals mining, smelting and refining.
We are helping to transform the way the industry thinks about
water in the context of natural resource projects by offering
services and expertise which enables more sustainable water
management practices and improved overall project performance at
reduced risks. BQE Water invests in innovation and has developed
unique intellectual property through the commercialization of
several new technologies at mine sites around the world for
organizations including Glencore, Jiangxi Copper, Freeport-McMoRan
and the US EPA. BQE Water is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and trades on the TSX
Venture Exchange under the symbol BQE. Visit www.bqewater.com for
more information.
SOURCE BQE Water Inc.