Clean TeQ Water Awarded ATA® Tailings Dewatering Plant Contract for Rasp Mine in Broken Hill
15 May 2026
Clean TeQ Water has been awarded a Design and Construct contract by Broken Hill Operations, a wholly owned subsidiary of Broken Hill Mines, for an ATA® Tailings Dewatering Plant at the Rasp Mine in Broken Hill, New South Wales.
The ATA® Tailings Dewatering Plant forms part of Broken Hill Operations’ ramp-up of its 100% owned and operating Rasp Mine to its 750,000 tonnes per annum nameplate production rate, with practical completion of the dewatering plant targeted for 1H 2027.
Aerial view of mining operations in Broken Hill, New South Wales
The contract covers the engineering, procurement, manufacture, supply and installation of a single-train ATA® facility sized for 750,000tpa dry solids throughput. Works are scheduled to commence immediately following contract execution, with practical completion targeted in 3Q FY27.
The ATA® Tailings Dewatering Plant is a conventional mine tailings dewatering system enhanced by Clean TeQ Water’s proprietary ATA® rapid dewatering technology. It is designed to produce a filter cake suitable for in-pit filtered tailings stacking without the additional capital and operating costs typically associated with pressure filtration.
The Rasp Mine is long-established as one of the largest silver, lead and zinc deposit in the world; and the new ATA® Plant will support Broken Hill Mines’ transition away from the historical practice of higher operating cost ‘solar drying’ of tailings on site, which has previously limited processing throughput to 500,000 tonnes per annum. The ATA® process has been extensively tested on Rasp Mine tailings through laboratory and pilot-scale programs, consistently producing high-quality filtered tailings and meeting the mine’s required target tailings moisture content.
Clean TeQ Water and Broken Hill Operations Pty Ltd are also finalising a long-term Polymer Supply Agreement covering the supply of ATA® reagents and licensing of ATA® technology for the Rasp Mine.
ATA® - Supporting the Shift Toward Filtered Tailings
ATA® is Clean TeQ Water’s proprietary tailings dewatering technology, using a dual polymer system to enable efficient production of stackable filter cake from full mine tailings streams. The technology is designed to deliver high cake solids and low residual moisture while reducing reagent consumption and water losses compared with conventional flocculation-only approaches.
By delivering the cake solids and stack stability traditionally associated with high-cost pressure filtration at materially lower capital and operating cost, ATA® expands the range of mining operations for which filtered tailings becomes economically and technically viable.
“The deployment of ATA® technology at the Rasp mine significantly enhances BHO’s tailings dewatering capacity, reducing both ongoing operating and capital costs for the Mine. Clean TeQ Water and BHO have been 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.
“We are delighted to be working with Broken Hill Mines on the Rasp project and look forward to supporting them through commissioning and many years of operation.”
The mining industry is undergoing a significant shift in tailings management, driven by heightened regulatory and investor scrutiny following recent global tailings dam failures, and the introduction of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM). Wet tailings storage facilities are increasingly difficult to permit, finance and insure, while filtered tailings stacking – depositing dewatered tailings as a stable solid rather than a slurry behind an impoundment – directly addresses these issues and recovers process water for reuse in the mill.
By delivering high cake solids and stack stability through a lower-cost dewatering pathway, ATA® broadens the range of mines able to transition away from conventional wet tailings storage.