Vancouver, BC – BQE Water Inc. (TSX-V: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, is pleased to announce that it is making a strategic investment into the integration of aquatic toxicology services into its existing business and suite of core competencies. This expansion is underpinned and made possible by a team of senior aquatic toxicologists including James Elphick, Dr Ebrahim (Ebi) Lari, and Josh Baker joining the BQE Water team. The investment includes the establishment of an aquatic toxicology laboratory as well as development of in-house resources to maintain BQE Water’s leadership in the area of production of clean mine water.
The goal of this investment is to improve the services offered by BQE Water to its clients, specifically:
- To reduce timelines and costs associated with implementing remedies to toxicity occurring in mine waters by having a strong in-house multidisciplinary team capable of evaluating causes of toxicity, performing all required testing, and designing remedies.
- To consider establishment of science-based site-specific water quality benchmarks holistically, including costs and risks of water treatment to optimize water quality from early project stages.
- To be in a unique position to provide guarantees to clients with respect to effluent toxicity as part of plant operations services.
David Kratochvil, the President and CEO of BQE Water, stated, “Over the last few years, we have identified aquatic toxicology services as an area of strategic interest for the Company. These services are not only perfectly complementary to our existing suite of services, but they also offer the potential for accelerated growth in our water treatment business. We are pleased to welcome top calibre aquatic toxicologists to help us expand and grow BQE Water while improving service offering to our clients.”
James Elphick commented, “Having spent 30 years performing applied research and testing to advance the science of aquatic toxicology and help clients gain an understanding of causes of toxicity and interaction of toxicants with water quality conditions, I am excited to have the opportunity to align this interest with a water solutions focused organization that partners with clients to deliver clean water production services. Approaching toxicity identification investigations and addressing gaps in the understanding of toxicant behaviour from a practical treatment perspective provides a unique service that will address ecological risks and reduce timelines for implementing the right remedies. While the plan is for the new BQE Water’s toxicity testing laboratory to be fully accredited, the primary purpose of the laboratory is to support the Company’s water treatment business and focus on investigative type of work rather than building a capacity for processing a high volume of samples for routine bioassays.”
About the Team of Senior Aquatic Toxicologists
James Elphick, Dr. Ebi Lari and Josh Baker bring substantial experience in the field of aquatic toxicology and understanding of causes of toxicity in mine water, including having been instrumental in developing water quality benchmarks for contaminants of concern at mine sites, such as selenium, nickel, copper, sulphate, chloride, nitrate, ammonia, and in researching novel approaches to understanding interactions of toxicants with water quality conditions.
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 risk. 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.
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For further information please contact:
BQE Water Inc.
Suite 200 – 30 East 6th Avenue
Vancouver, BC Canada V5T 1J4
604 685 1243
David Kratochvil, President & CEO
Heman Wong, CFO
Peter Gleeson, Executive Chairman
