In a move towards sustainable mining practices, Australian companies Clean TeQ and Future Element have joined forces to introduce an innovative solution for the rehabilitation of mine tailings.

The collaboration, announced on Tuesday, establishes a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Clean TeQ and mine tailings management company Future Element. The venture will focus on critical challenges in tailings management, metal recovery and waste remediation opportunities within the mining industry.

Clean TeQ CEO Peter Voigt highlighted the strategic significance of the JV, stating, “the JV with Future Element combines years of technical innovation and development with highly credentialled and commercially orientated executives to deliver solutions to the mining industry for its most critical problems.”

Globally, the inventory of mine tailings is estimated at a staggering 282-billion tonnes, with 16-billion tonnes of new mine tailings being produced every year. This presents a significant opportunity to leverage Clean TeQ technologies in converting liabilities into valuable assets.

“Our strategy is to raise environmental standards and reduce tailings management costs via sustainable metal production and enhanced water management,” said Voigt.

Future Element, founded by John Carr and Patrick Walta, boasts a record of successes, including the acquisition and redevelopment of the Century zinc mine, in Queensland, into Australia’s biggest-ever tailings reprocessing operation. The team’s expertise extends to co-founders Brent Slattery, who previously worked at BCG and BHP, and Dennis Gibson, who is a former Rio Tinto executive and CTO mining at Black & Veatch.

As part of the agreement, Clean TeQ will contribute technology licences for the use of its ATA rapid dewatering technology and the full suite of Clean-iX technologies. Further, Clean TeQ will also provide partial seed funding for up to 18 months, estimated at A$250 000 per quarter.

Future Element will contribute the team at a fixed subsidised compensation, as well as an established pipeline of large-scale projects and partnerships.

The board of directors of Future Element JV will consist of two directors from Clean TeQ and two directors from Future Element.