BQE Water Inc., a provider of mine water treatment and management solutions, has successfully restarted and begun operating the selenium removal treatment plant at the Kemess project in British Columbia, Canada, in collaboration with Centerra Gold Inc.
The facility was the first plant built using BQE Water’s patented Selen-IX™ process and was developed to support Centerra’s Kemess project.
The full-scale plant was constructed, commissioned and operated successfully for several months in 2020. As plans for the mine development evolved, the facility was placed under care and maintenance. Under an amended operations services agreement, BQE continued to conduct periodic site visits to maintain the plant as a viable asset, while the original five-year operations term remained unchanged.
Commissioning activities resumed in late summer 2026, with seasonal operations now underway and expected to continue for the next few months. BQE says the first official test results, received on September 14, 2026, confirmed that selenium concentrations in the plant’s treated water were below the detection limit of less than two parts per billion.
Luke Jalsevac, EVP Major Projects at Centerra Gold, said the company is proactively restarting the seasonal selenium treatment plant as part of early site activities ahead of a potential restart of the Kemess project. He said the plant is delivering selenium concentrations well below the permitted limit.
David Kratochvil, President and CEO of BQE Water, said the company was pleased to return to the site with Centerra and resume treatment using the Selen-IX process. He added that the start-up proceeded smoothly and that BQE looks forward to supporting operations at Kemess over the next four-plus years.