Aquarry Moves Mine-Waste Carbon Removal From Lab to First Wyoming Pilot

Aquarry has installed its first pilot deployment of mine remediation carbon removal technology at a site in Wyoming, marking the Colorado-based startup's official move from lab-level work to field operation.

The company's approach targets a specific material stream: alkaline mine waste. Aquarry dissolves that waste into pit lakes at former mines, which boosts the water's capacity to absorb CO2 and drives a mineralization process that locks atmospheric carbon away as solid carbonate rock.

The Wyoming deployment won't remove carbon at scale yet. Its job is measurement. Under real-world conditions, Aquarry's team will track how wind, rain, UV exposure, native microbes and temperature affect CO2 uptake and mineralization rates. They'll also assess the long-term impact of the approach on water quality in the pit lakes — the make-or-break variable for regulators and site owners watching this class of technology.

The pilot follows a year of what the company describes as strong lab and model results.

Where the money came from

Aquarry's path to field deployment was backed by retail climate funding. Last year, Wren ran a Slingshot fundraiser in support of the company's technology and raised $248,906, money that helped carry operations from research into deployment. That donor-funded base now sits beneath a more conventional capital plan: Aquarry is launching a new fundraising round this November, with terms yet to be announced.

The takeaway: a quarter-million dollars in crowdfunded support got the hardware into the field; the next round has to fund engineering at mine scale.

What's waiting in Baie Verte

The company's stated end target is far larger than Wyoming. Aquarry plans to deploy its technology at the Atlantic Carbon Mineral Hub in Baie Verte, Newfoundland — the site of Canada's abandoned asbestos mining industry.

The numbers there are substantial. Baie Verte holds 50 million tonnes of asbestos tailings plus an additional 250 million tonnes of waste rock. Canada once ranked among the world's largest asbestos exporters; the mines are closed, but the residue remains.

That residue is feedstock. Asbestos is high in magnesium, making it a strong alkaline mineral for Aquarry's process. The company also notes the process is entirely wet, which avoids generating harmful dust — a meaningful point given the material in question.

Aquarry intends to work a specific Baie Verte site in partnership with BAIE Minerals, under the Atlantic Carbon Mineral Hub umbrella. The commercial logic runs on two tracks: revenue through carbon credits, and reclamation of the lake at the site.

What happens next

The timeline is set. In 2027, Aquarry begins asbestos-specific lab work and engineering. The on-site demonstration at Baie Verte follows in the summer of 2028 — the milestone that will show whether pit-lake mineralization can operate on tailings piles measured in the tens of millions of tonnes.

Until then, the Wyoming pilot carries the proof burden. Its data on CO2 uptake, mineralization and water quality will shape both the fundraising round opening in November and the case for the 2028 demonstration.

In short: Wyoming produces the field data this year, the funding round pays for the engineering next, and the summer 2028 Baie Verte demonstration decides whether this technology scales to asbestos tailings.