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TWST: Please begin with a brief historical sketch of the company and a picture
of the things you are doing right now.
Mr. Marchant: BioteQ is a water treatment company. We treat industrial
wastewater that contains metals, using unique patented biotechnology that allows
us to recover valuable metals and produce clean water. The technology has been
developed over the last 15 years and we built our first commercial plant in
2001. We differ from most water treatment companies in that we build, own and
operate our water treatment plants, so companies can outsource their water
treatment needs to us. We generate revenue from the wastewater from metals
recovered, which produces a sustainable wastewater treatment process that
provides a payback for the treatment plant itself.
We work primarily in the mining industry to treat acid mine drainage. This is a
naturally occurring process in mining that happens at about 70% of the world
mine sites. Acid mine drainage produces a cocktail of heavy metals and acid;
because it is toxic to the environment, it is fully regulated and must be
treated. Acid mine drainage is the single largest long-term liability facing
the mining industry today. BioteQ has an established customer base, working with
some of the world's largest mining companies. We offer them an opportunity to
reduce or eliminate the long-term liability caused by acid mine drainage. We
receive our revenue from treatment fees as well as the metals that we recover
from the wastewater. In some locations, there is the potential to generate
revenue from the treated water itself. We have built six plants so far, and
currently have five new plants under construction. TWST: Would you explain your technology?
Mr. Marchant: BioteQ has unique technology that provides a more environmentally
and economically sustainable way to treat metal-contaminated water. Acid
drainage has historically been treated using lime. By adding lime to the acid
water, the acid water is neutralized and all of the heavy metals are
precipitated out of the solution, forming a sludge. But all of the toxic metals
are then in the sludge, which must be stored and monitored as a toxic waste,
which creates a very long-term liability for the mining companies. BioteQ's
technology is unique in that it allows us to selectively recover the metals from
the contaminated water using our biotechnology, producing only clean water and
saleable metal products. We can eliminate the production of toxic sludge. We
recover the metals one at a time in pure form, which we can then sell.
Tickers included in this excerpt: BQE:TSX
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
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