Your license to operate runs on water.
Remote, arid gold operations manage process and contact water at 5,000 to 50,000 mg/L TDS with no river to discharge to and a watching community downstream. Desalus 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 capital — converting a closure liability into water and food security for the people who grant your license.
The ounces are easy. The water is what investors and communities watch.
Most gold sits in remote, arid country with no receiving water and a community that depends on the same scarce aquifer you do. Process and contact water accumulates with nowhere to go — and every pond, every TDS exceedance, every closure question is now an ESG line item and a license-to-operate risk.
- No outfall, nowhere to discharge. Saline process and contact water piles up in ponds you must line, monitor and eventually close.
- Community trust is fragile. A water incident in a dry basin can stall permits, expansions and the social license that underwrites the whole project.
- ESG and disclosure pressure is rising, and "water stewardship" claims now need evidence, not intentions.
What ponded water really costs in social capital
Every season of accumulating water erodes the trust your license depends on. Desalus reverses the curve.
The best water story isn't a pledge. It's zero waste, delivered.
Desalus is a full water-treatment service built for remote, arid gold operations — recovering nearly all of your process and contact water and turning the dissolved load into something the community can use.
99%+ recovery, zero brine
Recover almost every drop and eliminate the reject stream entirely. No ponds to line, monitor or carry into closure.
Water & food security
Clean water and locally-sourced fertilizer go to the communities sharing your basin — the most credible water-stewardship story you can tell.
License-to-operate, de-risked
No brine, no discharge, no exceedances. Zero-liquid-discharge operation that regulators, communities and ESG-screened investors welcome.
Lower water cost, zero capital
No capital outlay and no operating burden. Desalus funds, builds and runs everything — you pay only for clean water, at an attractive rate per thousand gallons that beats lining, monitoring and carrying ponds into closure. The dissolved load Desalus recovers becomes farm-grade fertilizer Desalus sells, a regional benefit that keeps your water price low.
Built for 5k–50k mg/L
Purpose-engineered for remote, saline process and contact water where conventional treatment with no outfall simply has no answer.
Service, not just steel
Desalus delivers treatment as a service — engineered, operated and optimized around your specific water, volumes and remote logistics.
Right in the band where remote sites have no outfall
From mildly saline groundwater to concentrated process and contact water, Desalus is designed for 5,000–50,000 mg/L total dissolved solids — exactly the water that piles up where there's nowhere to discharge.
The highlighted band is the Desalus sweet spot — exactly where remote gold operations are stranded today.
Desalus vs. how gold-site water is handled today
The same accumulating water, three very different outcomes.
| Outcome | Desalus | Evaporation ponds | Conventional RO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water recovery | 99%+ | Low — lost to air | Stalls inland |
| Brine / reject stream | None | Permanent pond | Yes — and no outfall |
| Community benefit | Water + fertilizer | None | None |
| ESG / disclosure story | Evidence of stewardship | Liability | Neutral at best |
| Capital you outlay | None — Desalus owns & operates | You fund & build | You fund & build |
| What you pay for | Clean water, per 1,000 gal | Pond build + closure, forever | Power + brine, no outfall |
| License-to-operate risk | Low — ZLD | High | Rising |
| Your all-in water cost | Lowest & predictable | Highest | High |
From water report to clean water in four steps.
It starts with your numbers. Send Desalus a full-panel water quality and volume report, and you'll get site-specific insight into recovery, your clean-water rate, the closure costs you avoid and the stewardship story you can stand behind.
Start with your water reportShare your full-panel report
Send process and contact-water quality and volume 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, the pond and closure costs you avoid, and the community water and food security you can deliver.
Desalus builds & operates it
Desalus capitalizes, installs and runs the KNeW Process, Zix-Zak ion exchange and No-Briner systems around your remote site — no capex or operating burden for you.
Buy back clean water, waste-free
You purchase clean water at your agreed rate per thousand gallons for reuse or beneficial release. Brine never exists, and the recovered salts become fertilizer Desalus markets to local agriculture — which keeps your water price low and strengthens your license to operate.
Raise profit. Eliminate waste. Flourish community.
The award-winning systems behind the Desalus service turn your hardest water into the strongest part of your social license.
What gold-mine water managers ask first
We're remote with no river or outfall. Does that matter?
It's exactly why Desalus fits. Because over 99% of the water is recovered and there is no brine, you don't need a receiving water to discharge to — a full zero-liquid-discharge operation purpose-built for remote, arid sites in the 5,000–50,000 mg/L TDS range.
How does the Desalus model work — what do I actually pay?
Desalus capitalizes, builds, owns, operates and maintains the facility. 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 farm-grade fertilizer to local agriculture, we can price your water below ponding-and-closure alternatives while leaving zero waste. The fertilizer revenue is Desalus'; your benefit is cheaper water, zero capital, no closure liability and a credible stewardship story.
How does this help our ESG and license to operate?
It replaces a ponded-water liability with evidence: clean water recovered, zero brine, and farm-grade fertilizer plus water returned to the communities that share your basin. That's a documented water-stewardship outcome you can disclose, not just a pledge.
What happens to the dissolved solids?
They're recovered as farm-grade fertilizer rather than concentrated into a pond or brine. The water comes back clean for reuse or beneficial release, and the solids become a regional agricultural input — true zero waste.
What do I need to get started?
A full-panel water quality analysis and your process and contact-water volumes. Submit them through the contact form on desalus.com and the Desalus team will return site-specific insights — recovery, fertilizer yield, avoided cost and community benefit.
See exactly how much stronger your water story can be.
Send Desalus a full-panel water quality and volume report and get site-specific insight into the clean water, savings and community benefit waiting in the water you already manage.
No obligation. The report drives a site-specific model of recovery, your water rate per thousand gallons, the costs you avoid and the community benefit.
- Quantified water recovery for your exact TDS and volumes
- Your attractive clean-water rate per thousand gallons
- Avoided pond, discharge, closure and capital costs
- Zero capital outlay — Desalus funds, builds & operates it all