Aquarry Launches Mine Cleanup Pilot in Wyoming
The Colorado startup's first field deployment will track how its process captures carbon while treating mine waste.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Environmental
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Aquarry, a Colorado-based deep tech climate startup, has installed its first mine remediation pilot in Wyoming. The technology dissolves alkaline mine waste into pit lakes at former mines, boosting the water's ability to absorb CO2 and locking it away as solid carbonate rock.
Why it matters
The pilot tests whether abandoned mine sites can be repurposed to store atmospheric carbon while addressing waste left behind by past mining. Its results could inform how similar sites are managed in Wyoming and beyond.
Wren's Slingshot fundraiser for Aquarry raised $248,906 last year. The source does not yet report measured carbon uptake or water-quality results from the Wyoming pilot, which is still being monitored.
The players
Aquarry
A Colorado-based deep tech climate startup developing a process that turns alkaline mine waste into carbon-locking carbonate rock in pit lakes.
Wren
A company that launched a Slingshot fundraiser in support of Aquarry's technology.
BAIE Minerals
The partner Aquarry will work with as part of the Atlantic Carbon Mineral Hub in Baie Verte.
The details
The Wyoming pilot tracks how wind, rain, UV exposure, native microbes and temperature affect CO2 uptake and mineralization. It also assesses the long-term impact of the approach on water quality at the treated site.
Timeline
Last year (2025): Wren's Slingshot fundraiser for Aquarry raised $248,906.
November 2026: Aquarry launches a new fundraising round.
2027: Aquarry will undertake further asbestos-specific lab work and engineering.
Summer 2028: Aquarry intends to hold an on-site demonstration in Baie Verte, Newfoundland.
Big Picture
The Wyoming deployment extends the pit-lake mineralization approach from laboratory and planning stages into a field pilot under real weather and microbial conditions. Its results will determine whether this method can scale to the asbestos tailings and waste rock at Baie Verte.
For Wyoming residents, the pilot offers a look at whether former mine sites can be treated to store carbon without harming local water. Readers near abandoned mines may see future remediation approaches tested in their own state.
The takeaway
Abandoned mines may become a tool for climate work if waste treatment and carbon storage can be combined safely. Watch the Wyoming pilot's water-quality findings as a measure of whether the approach is viable.
What happens next
Aquarry plans further asbestos-specific lab work and engineering in 2027, followed by an on-site demonstration in Baie Verte in summer 2028.
Further reading
Explore more reporting in our Environmental section for context on carbon storage and mine cleanup.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Carbon Herald.
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