Companies offering water purification technology to help with Gold King Mine cleanup

Three companies are promoting their water purification technology to clean up the Gold King Mine mishap, caused when an EPA team accidentally discharged 3 million gallons of wastewater into the Animas River from a mine near Durango, Colorado on Aug. 5.

"Our combined technologies could not be more perfectly suited for this application," Michael Mills, head of Modern Mining Solutions (MMS), said.

MMS is working with Recovery Energy, Inc. (REI) and Ferrate Treatment Technologies (FTT) to offer the EPA help with the massive cleanup project.

"Our system cost effectively treats and removes heavy metals, various chemicals, biochemicals (BODs), chemical oxygen demands (CODs), dissolved solids, hydrocarbons and a long list of other contaminants," Mills said.

The companies’ system works by treating water with a ferrate solution, which is a high valence iron molecule that oxidizes chemicals, disinfects pathogens and co-precipitates dissolved metals. The contaminants, once bonded with the iron, become heavier than the water and settle out.

"The ferrate treatment process has already been proven to be the most environmentally friendly and lowest cost method for treating municipal drinking water in a recent EPA report…,”  FTT CEO Luke Daly said. “Ferrate was also featured in a demonstration process to clean up a portion of Lake Apopka, Florida's largest 'dead lake' leading to a larger treatment contract for FTT... ."