The design report for the plant has been approved by the joint venture and the construction on the project will commence in the third quarter of this year. The construction of the plant is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. The company expects the plant to generate revenue in Q2 2011.
The capital cost of the plant, estimated at $3m including the process plant, initial reagents required in the process, and contingency, will be shared equally by the joint venture partners.
The plant with the capacity to treat 800 cubic meters of water per hour will be used recover cobalt and nickel from acid wastewater and produce a saleable cobalt-nickel product using ion exchange technology developed by BioteQ to treat wastewater with low concentrations of dissolved metals.
Based on annual precipitation at Dexing and the site water balance in 2009, the company expects plant to treat approximately five to six million cubic meters of water per year and recover an estimated 50,000 pounds of nickel and 60,000 pounds of cobalt annually.
Brad Marchant, CEO of BioteQ, said: “This new project in China, along with the recently completed plant in the Canadian Yukon, delivers on our 2010 goal to add two new plants with ongoing operating contracts that provide recurring revenues to our operations portfolio.”
