BQE Water Reports Q1 2025 Results

VANCOUVER, BC, May 29, 2025 /CNW/ - BQE Water Inc. (TSXV: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, is pleased to release its interim consolidated financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

"In Q1 2025, we substantially grew our technical services revenues over the same period last year. We provided temporary water treatment operations for the emergency response at Eagle Gold Mine and we advanced several projects into the plant design and construction phase," said David Kratochvil, President & CEO of BQE Water. "We expect strong results over the next two quarters as we continue to make progress and complete these large projects, with potential for generating new recurring revenue from these projects."

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Record revenues under GAAP and Proportional Revenues of $7.4 million and $7.9 million in Q1 2025 respectively, compared $2.5 million and $3.4 million in Q1 2024.
• Historical high in technical services revenue for a 3-month period of $5.5 million in Q1 2025 compared to $719,000 in Q1 2024.
• Gross margin of $3.2 million in Q1 2025 compared to $1.1 million in Q1 2024, a $2.1 million increase.
• Net income of $1.7 million in Q1 2025 compared to a loss of $486,000 in Q1 2024.
• Earnings per share of $1.34 in Q1 2025 compared to a loss per share of $0.39 in Q1 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 million in Q1 2025 compared to a loss of $121,000 in Q1 2024.
• Working capital of $14.4 million at March 31, 2025, compared to $12.6 million at December 31, 2024, a 14% increase.

Selected financial results are as follows:

OPERATIONAL SERVICES HIGHLIGHTS

Our operational services consist of the operation or technical supervision of water treatment plants, which generate recurring revenues from three main sources: sales of recovered metals, water treatment fees and operations support fees. The Company's operations by source of revenue are as follows:

JCC-BQE Joint Venture Operations

Our 50/50 joint venture with partner Jiangxi Copper Company ("JCC") operates three water treatment plants at Dexing Mine and at Yinshan Mine in Jiangxi province of China. The volume of water treated, and metals recovered by the plants fluctuate seasonally depending on precipitation levels in the region. The operating results for Q1 2025 are as follows:

In Q1 2025, all three plants met mechanical availability and process performance set by the Company. The volume of water treated decreased by 55% and the mass of copper recovered decreased by 61% when compared to Q1 2024. Starting Q2 2024, the Yinshan Mine began to consistently recover zinc. Such changes in water volume and metal grade in feed water from period to period are largely the result of environmental conditions beyond the control of the joint venture.

MWT-BQE Joint Venture Operations

Our 20% share of MWT-BQE is with our 80% partner Beijing MWT Water Treatment Project Limited Company ("MWT") and together we operate a water treatment plant at a smelter in Shandong province of China. MWT-BQE generates revenues from the sale of zinc and copper recovered from smelter wastewater. Operating results for Q1 2025 are as follows:

The smelter periodically operated its production lines with ores from different sources which led to varying concentrations of zinc and copper in the feed and a fluctuation in the volume of wastewater treated by the plant. The joint venture has no control over the composition and volume of feed that flows into the plant. In Q1 2025, the plant continued to operate intermittently to reduce costs, as the value of zinc and copper in the feed was lower than the recovery cost of the metals.

BQE Water Operations

The number of operating days contributing to water treatment or support fees for three months ended March 31, 2025 are as follows:

The volume of water treated by geographic location for the three months ended March 31, 2025 are as follows:

The Company, with our Inuit partner Nuvumiut Development, operates four water treatment plants at Raglan Mine for Glencore Canada Corporation ("Glencore"). In the first quarter, the plants at Raglan Mine were shut down as water stored in the outdoor reservoirs was frozen. Consequently, no water was treated and no revenue was generated in Q1 2025 from the Raglan Mine plants. We expect to begin water treatment in June 2025.

In 2021, we began operations of the Zhongkuang SART plant and the Zhaojin SART plant at metallurgical facilities in China. Both plants have been under our technical supervision since the start of full production. Both SART plants operated fully throughout Q1 2025 without disruption.

In 2022, we began operations of a treatment plant utilizing our Selen-IX™ process to remove selenium from ash pond water for WesTech Engineering ("WesTech"). In Q1 2025, our team continued at site providing water treatment services with the Selen-IX™ circuit to manage the presence of selenium in the feed.

In January 2022, we completed the commissioning of a treatment plant utilizing a combination of nanofiltration and our proprietary selenium electro-reduction process for the simultaneous removal of selenium and sulphate from mine water for a base metal project in the American Southwest. In August 2023, our team completed the performance test milestone for a 2nd newly constructed selenium removal water treatment plant which entered the operation phase. In Q1 2025, we continued to provide water treatment operation services for two water treatment plants in the American Southwest.

TECHNICAL SERVICES HIGHLIGHTS

BQE Water's technical expertise and IP are applicable globally across broad areas of water management. Highlights of some of our technical services and technical innovation projects during Q1 2025 are summarized below.

Trusted Advisory Services (Water Management and Water Studies)

• Initiated the construction of a water treatment facility to support the clean-up of legacy tailings site in the Yukon.
• Continued to provide ongoing advisory and water treatment services in response to the environmental emergency caused by a heap leach failure at the Eagle Gold Mine in the Yukon.
• Continued plant operations support and engineering services to an actively producing mine requiring improvements to their existing treatment in the Yukon. 
• Continued with engineering services for the design, procurement, and construction of another selenium removal plant using BQE's Selen-IX™ to meet end-of-pipe limit of less than 2 parts per billion at a gold mine in Central US.
• Continued assisting an integrated lead smelter-recycling facility in Eastern Canada with completing upgrades to existing treatment system and implementation of new sulphate removal stage to a discharge limit less than 1,500 mg/L and initiated operations support for the newly upgraded facility.
• Continued selenium stability test program simulating conditions in semi-passive treatment systems to support holistic risk assessment of selenium treatment options for a client based in BC.

Cyanide Management (Destruction and Recycle)

• Implemented cyanide destruction to meet 25 ppb residual cyanide at the end-of-pipe at the Eagle Gold Mine in the Yukon.
• Continued to provide plant engineering design services to a US project requiring the end-of-pipe cyanide level below 8 ppb.
• Continued to provide engineering services for Shandong Gold to support the construction of the third SART plant in China.

COMMENTARY AND OUTLOOK

We are pleased to report our best ever first quarter results in Q1 2025, setting records for GAAP revenue, Proportional Revenue, net income, and Adjusted EBITDA. Highlights of the results are summarized as follows:

• Recurring revenue from water treatment operations was marginally higher than in Q1 2024 as no new operations were added to the existing portfolio of operating plants.
• Non-recurring revenue from technical services increased substantially compared to Q1 2024 due to several large projects in various phases of plant design, construction, and temporary operations, including but not limited to:
  • Design and construction of the Valley Tailings plant in the Yukon;
  • Advisory and water treatment services for temporary emergency response treatment at Eagle Gold Mine; 
  • Detailed design of a sulphate removal plant that will subsequently go into construction in BC; and
  • Detailed design of cyanide removal plant in the US.
• Recurring revenue from our China joint venture fell when compared to Q1 2024 due to a lower quantity of recovered metals caused primarily by a decline in the volume of water treated.

In Q1 2025, the Company renewed two operating contracts in the US that were expiring in the next four to twelve months. Although the scope of our operating services under the renewal was reduced, the term was extended for five years with an extension option for an additional two years.

With respect to our outlook for the remainder of 2025, we continue to have good visibility and certainty over existing operations contracts and certain large technical services contracts. As such, we expect strong results over the next two quarters based on the following:

• • Commissioning of a third SART plant in China followed by the start of new recurring operations services;
  • Commissioning of the fourth Selen-IX™ plant in the US followed by the start of ongoing operations support services;
  • Pilot demonstration of Selen-IX™ at a mine in the US;
  • Construction and commissioning of the Valley Tailings treatment plant; and
  • Several feasibility, pre-feasibility, and pilot demonstration projects in Chile and Brazil.

The anticipated strength in our technical services revenue is expected to mitigate the Company's exposure to geopolitical risks associated with China. In addition, the increase in our technical services revenue is expected to more than offset the reduction in operations revenue due to the two US contract renewals. Looking ahead, some of the large projects listed above have the potential to start generating new recurring revenue upon completion.

We are navigating uncertain times that present both new risks and new opportunities. Short and long-term headwinds for our business include a global recession, weak inflows of capital into the mining sector, and geopolitical risks related to China. We remain focused on fiscal prudence, while continuing to actively explore opportunities to accelerate our growth. Our strong balance sheet positions us well on both fronts.

SELECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION

For a complete set of Financial Statements and MD&A, please go to www.bqewater.com. 

About BQE Water

BQE Water is a service provider specializing in water treatment and management for metals mining, smelting and refining. We are helping to transform the way the industry thinks about water in the context of natural resource projects by offering services and expertise which enables more sustainable water management practices and improved overall project performance at reduced risks. BQE Water invests in innovation and has developed unique intellectual property through the commercialization of several new technologies at mine sites around the world for organizations including Glencore, Jiangxi Copper, Freeport-McMoRan and the US EPA. BQE Water is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BQE. Visit www.bqewater.com for more information.

The Toronto Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain information contained herein may not be based on historical fact and therefore constitutes "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. This includes without limitation statements containing the words "plan", "expect", "project", "estimate", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "may", "will" and other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company's dependence on key personnel and contracts, uncertainty with respect to the profitability of the Company's technologies, competition, technology risk, the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property and proprietary information, fluctuations in commodity prices, currency risk, environmental regulation and the Company's ability to manage growth and other factors described in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators at www.sedarplus.ca (including without limitation the factors described in the section entitled "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2024). Given these risks and uncertainties, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking information contained herein is based on management's current expectations and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update such forward-looking information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE BQE Water Inc.