Whatever you mine, the water problem is the same — and so is the answer.
Copper, gold, coal, lithium, iron, nickel — every ore touches water, and every commodity hands you a different contact-water chemistry at 5,000–50,000 mg/L TDS. They all end the same way: rising treatment cost, brine and sludge, disposal liability. Desalus is the commodity-agnostic service that funds, builds, owns and operates the treatment — you simply buy back clean water at an attractive rate per thousand gallons, with zero brine and zero disposal liability left behind. Desalus recovers 99%+ of the water and turns the dissolved salts and metals into farm-grade fertilizer it markets. No capital, no brine, no pond. Whatever's in the water.
Different ore, different chemistry — identical headache.
No matter what you pull out of the ground, water moves through it: pit dewatering, process makeup, runoff, heap and pad seepage. Each commodity leaves its own signature in that water — sulfate and metals from copper and gold, salinity and selenium from coal, lithium and chloride from brine ores. But the burden is universal: the volume keeps coming, the treatment cost keeps climbing, and the brine or sludge it leaves behind becomes a disposal problem you own indefinitely.
- Every commodity, the same tail — wherever the water chemistry starts, conventional treatment ends in brine, sludge and a residual stream to bury.
- Cost scales with the operation, not the ore price — dewatering and treatment run through closure, long after the commodity stops paying.
- One mixed portfolio, many point solutions — bespoke treatment per site and per chemistry multiplies vendors, permits and risk.
Different ores, one rising disposal cost
Conventional treatment buys compliance and leaves waste. Desalus funds and operates the treatment, returns clean water to you at an attractive rate per thousand gallons, and recovers the rest as fertilizer it sells.
One service for every ore you mine.
Desalus is a full water-treatment service that adapts to whatever chemistry your contact water carries — recovering nearly all the water and converting the dissolved load others bury into product. Same answer across your whole portfolio.
99%+ recovery, zero brine
Recover almost all of your contact water as clean water and eliminate the reject stream entirely. No sludge ponds, no liners, no perpetual disposal.
Lower water cost, zero capital
No capital outlay and no operating burden. Desalus funds, builds and runs everything — you pay only for clean water delivered, at an attractive rate per thousand gallons that beats your current all-in cost. The dissolved load others bury becomes farm-grade fertilizer Desalus sells.
Liability becomes compliance
Zero-liquid-discharge means no discharge to permit and no waste stream to manage. De-risk closure, bonding and the balance sheet across every site.
Adapts to any chemistry
Engineered for the 5k–50k mg/L band and tuned per site — copper, gold, coal, lithium, iron or nickel, the process configures to your water.
Water back to the operation
Recovered clean water returns to process, dust suppression or local supply — easing the demand your operation places on the watershed.
Service, not just steel
Desalus delivers treatment as an engineered, operated service tuned to each site's chemistry and flow — not a box you buy and maintain.
The band where ore-mine water defeats conventional treatment
From lightly impacted seepage to concentrated process and dewatering streams, Desalus is designed for 5,000–50,000 mg/L total dissolved solids — the range mine contact water reaches no matter which ore it came from.
The highlighted band is the Desalus sweet spot — where mine water strands conventional treatment today.
Desalus vs. RO & brine vs. evaporation
The same contact water — whatever the ore — three very different outcomes.
| Outcome | Desalus | RO & brine disposal | Evaporation ponds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water recovery | 99%+ | Partial — brine reject | Low — lost to air |
| Residual waste stream | None | Concentrated brine | Permanent pond |
| Works across commodities | One adaptable service | Re-engineered per site | Per site |
| Capital you outlay | None — Desalus owns & operates | You fund & build | You fund & build |
| What you pay for | Clean water, per 1,000 gal | Power + disposal | Disposal, forever |
| Discharge / closure risk | Low — ZLD | High | High |
| Your all-in water cost | Lowest & predictable | High | Highest |
From water report to clean water in four steps.
It starts with your chemistry — whatever the commodity. Send Desalus a full-panel water quality and volume report for your contact water, and you'll get a site-specific model of your clean-water rate, the recovery achievable, and the capital and disposal liability you'll shed.
Start with your water reportShare your full-panel report
Send your contact-water chemistry — pH, TDS, salts, metals — and flow data through the Desalus contact form. The richer the panel, the sharper the model.
Get a site-specific model
Desalus quantifies recovery, your clean-water rate per thousand gallons, and the capital and disposal costs you avoid — tuned to your commodity.
Desalus builds & operates it
Desalus capitalizes, installs and runs the KNeW Process, Zix-Zak ion exchange and No-Briner systems around each site's flow and chemistry — no capex or operating burden for you.
Buy back clean water, waste-free
You purchase clean water at your agreed rate per thousand gallons, and the contact-water liability simply stops existing. Brine never exists, and the recovered salts and metals become fertilizer Desalus markets — which is how your water price stays low.
Raise profit. Erase the waste. De-risk every site.
The award-winning systems behind the Desalus service turn the contact water from any ore — copper to lithium — into reliable, affordable clean water, with nothing left to waste.
What mine-water managers ask first
My commodity has unusual water chemistry — can Desalus still handle it?
Almost certainly. Desalus is commodity-agnostic by design: it's built for the full range of contact-water chemistries — sulfate and metals, salinity and selenium, lithium and chloride — anywhere in the 5,000–50,000 mg/L TDS band. The service is configured per site around your exact panel rather than forced into one fixed recipe, recovering 99%+ of the water clean while turning the dissolved load into farm-grade fertilizer.
What happens to the dissolved salts and metals?
They become product, not waste. The dissolved load that makes contact water a liability — regardless of which ore it came from — is recovered as farm-grade fertilizer. There is no brine and no sludge to dispose of: true zero-liquid-discharge.
I run several mines on different commodities — is this one solution or many?
One. Rather than a bespoke point solution per site and per chemistry, Desalus brings a single adaptable service across your portfolio — fewer vendors, fewer permits, and a consistent zero-discharge outcome whether the site mines copper, gold, coal or lithium.
How does the Desalus model work — what do I actually pay?
Desalus capitalizes, builds, owns, operates and maintains the facility at your site. You don't buy equipment or run anything — you simply purchase the clean water Desalus produces, at an attractive rate per thousand gallons. Because Desalus recovers and sells the resulting fertilizer, we can price your water below conventional treat-and-dispose alternatives while leaving zero waste. The fertilizer revenue is Desalus'; your benefit is cheaper water and no liability.
How do I find out what my contact water can deliver?
Send a full-panel water analysis and your flow volumes through the contact form on desalus.com. You'll receive a site-specific model of recovery, your clean-water rate per thousand gallons, and the capital and disposal costs you avoid — before any commitment.
See what your ore mine's contact water is really worth.
Send Desalus a full-panel water quality and volume report for your contact water — whatever you mine — and get site-specific insight into the clean water, the savings and the avoided liability waiting in the water you already manage.
No obligation. The report drives a site-specific model of recovery, your water rate per thousand gallons, and the costs you avoid.
- Quantified water recovery for your exact contact-water chemistry
- Your attractive clean-water rate per thousand gallons
- Avoided brine, pond, perpetual-disposal and capital cost
- Zero capital outlay — Desalus funds, builds & operates it all