Clean TeQ Water (ASX: CNQ) has been awarded a design and construct contract for an ATA tailings dewatering plant at the Rasp Mine in Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Awarded by Broken Hill Operations, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Broken Hill Mines (ASX: BHM), the contract covers engineering, procurement, manufacture, supply, and installation of the plant.
The single-train facility will be sized for 750,000 tonnes per annum dry solids throughput and is designed to produce filter cake suitable for in-pit filtered tailings stacking without the additional capital and operating costs of pressure filtration.
Practical completion is targeted for the third quarter of financial year 2027, with the plant forming part of Broken Hill Operations’ ramp-up of the Rasp Mine to its 750,000tpa nameplate production rate.
Contract payments will be made progressively throughout delivery of the works.
Rasp Mine Ramp-Up
The Rasp Mine is an operating silver, lead, and zinc mine in Broken Hill that is currently being ramped up to nameplate processing capacity.
The ATA tailings dewatering plant will allow Broken Hill Mines to move away from the historical practice of higher operating-cost solar drying of tailings on site.
That previous tailings management approach has also limited processing throughput to 500,000tpa.
The new plant has been extensively tested through laboratory and piloting work on Rasp Mine tailings and has produced filtered tailings exceeding the mine’s required tailings moisture content target.
ATA Dewatering Technology
Clean TeQ Water’s proprietary ATA rapid dewatering technology uses a dual polymer system to enable efficient production of stackable filter cake from full mine tailings streams.
The process classifies coarse and fine particle fractions through hydrocyclones, applies different polymers to each fraction and recombines them into a single stream.
That process anchors the fines to the coarse particles and creates a sand-like material that is easier to dewater.
The technology is designed to deliver high cake solids, low residual moisture, reduced reagent consumption compared with conventional flocculation-only approaches and lower water losses to the tailings storage facility.
Polymer Supply Agreement
Clean TeQ Water and Broken Hill Operations are also negotiating a long-term polymer supply agreement linked to the Rasp deployment.
Under the proposed agreement, Clean TeQ Water would supply proprietary ATA reagents and grant Broken Hill Operations an ongoing licence to operate the technology at the Rasp Mine.
The parties intend to execute the polymer supply agreement within 14 days of the design and construct contract.
If the polymer supply agreement is not executed within that period, either party may terminate the design and construct contract for convenience by notice given on or before the 28th day after the date of the design and construct contract.
Lower Cost Tailings Transition
“The deployment of ATA technology at Rasp significantly enhances BHO’s tailings dewatering capacity, reducing both ongoing operating and capital costs for the mine,” chief executive officer Peter Voigt said.
“Clean TeQ Water and BHO have been to working collaboratively together for over two years on this opportunity, with the arrangements announced today delivering Clean TeQ Water near-term construction revenue and, on execution of the Polymer Supply Agreement, the prospect of long-term recurring revenue.”
Filtered tailings stacking involves depositing dewatered tailings as a stable solid rather than a slurry behind an impoundment—an approach that is gaining attention as wet tailings storage facilities become harder to permit, finance, and insure amid heightened regulatory and investor scrutiny.
Clean TeQ Water said ATA could deliver cake solids and stack stability traditionally associated with high-cost pressure filtration at materially lower capital and operating cost.
The company believes that cost profile broadens the range of mines for which filtered tailings can become economically and technically viable.
