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BQE: Signs 20-Year Contract with BC Government

What you need to know:
• BQE announced that it was awarded a 20-year contract with the BC government for long-term operations and maintenance services for the Britannia Mine Water Treatment Plant. The contract has upside opportunities based on cost savings delivered by BQE.
• This represented the largest contract in BQE’s history.
• We view this as a significant catalyst for the stock, as growth will now resume in the operations services segment, while the technical services segment is already growing rapidly.

This morning, BQE Water (BQE:TSXV, BTQNF:OTC) announced that it was awarded a 20-year contract with the BC government to provide long-term operations and maintenance services for the Britannia Mine Water Treatment Plant. We view this as a strong catalyst for the Company, which was struggling to grow its operations services segment in recent quarters. Combining this with other operations projects starting in Q4, BQE is set up for improved growth across the business. We view the current valuation of 5.4x 2026E EBITDA as very cheap relative to BQE’s track record of growth and the peer group valuation. We are maintaining our BUY rating and $80.00/share target price on BQE Water.

Britannia Mine Water Treatment Contract
BQE signed the contract following a competitive procurement process administered by Infrastructure BC on behalf of the BC government. This represented the largest contract signed in BQE’s history. The Britannia Mine was once the largest copper producer in the British Commonwealth before closing in 1974. The plant is located 50km north of Vancouver, next to the Sea-to-Sky Highway. The existing twenty-year-old facility is a High-Density Sludge (HDS) lime treatment plant that neutralizes acidity and removes heavy metals, primarily copper and zinc, from the mine water. The facility treats on average 4-5M cubic meters per year of mine-impacted water and prevents ~600 tonnes of heavy metal contaminants from entering the marine environment each year. This is in line with several other plants in BQE’s portfolio.

BQE will assume the responsibility for all aspects of the plant operation and maintenance as of January 13th, 2026, for a term of 20 years, requiring an on-site team of six, including two supervisors who will be supported by locally based engineers, technicians, and automation specialists. BQE is also implementing a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to help reduce life cycle costs and risks, in addition to a series of planned capital projects. The contract includes a provision that would share potential savings with the government on the reduction of the operating costs achieved by BQE Water compared to the baseline.