Industrias Penoles

Santa Fe Springs, California

Equipment Contract for the Expansion of Industrias Penoles' Minera Penmont and La Cienega Awarded to Whittier Filtration.

Santa Fe Springs, CA. January 22, 2009 —Whittier Filtration, a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies company has been chosen to supply the Auto-Jet ^®Precoat Filtration and Vacuum Deaeration equipment packages for the expansion projects of Minera Penmont, a subsidiary of Industrias Penoles in the Dipolos gold mine and Mexico's richest gold mine, Minera Mexican La Cienega, at La Cienega mine in Durango, Mexico.Whittier Filtration's equipment package is expected to bring a 50% increase in production by the year 2010.

The scope of supply at Minera Penmont includes a 750 m³/h Auto-Jet^® Precoat Filtration and Vacuum Deaeration package while the Minera Mexican La Cienega includes a 400 m³/h Precoat Filtration and Vacuum Deaeration package.Auto-Jet ^®is a self-cleaning leaf fliter designed for filtration in severe applications.These packages are installed at these locations for clarification and deaeration of the pregnant leach solution in the Merrill-Crowe gold and silver process.

Whittier Filtration was able to build a custom vacuum package to fit the existing equipment as well as accomodate the high altitude all while meeting a fast track delivery.

Industrias Penoles is a mining group with integrated operations in smelting and refining non-ferrous metals, and producing chemicals. Peñoles is the world's top producer of refined silver, metallic bismuth and sodium sulfate, the leading Latin American producer of refined gold, lead and zinc.Company's reported annual sales for 2007 exceeded USD 4.0 billion.

Company Information

Whittier Filtration is a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, combining innovative technology with industry experience to provide economical and effective operation of filtration and water treatment applications.Our wide range of filtration technologies offers solutions for industrial processes including gold, silver and copper mining, oil and gas production, food production, food and juice processing and many others.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies is the technological subsidiary of Veolia Water. Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (VWS), which includes eight subsidiaries in North America (Biothane, Crown Solutions, HPD, John Meunier, Kruger, N.A. Water Systems, PICA and Whittier Filtration), is a world leader in engineering and technological solutions in water treatment for industrial companies and municipal authorities. VWS is also one of the world's major design-build providers of water and wastewater treatment facilities. Present in more than 55 countries, with 7700 employees, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies had revenues of $2.7 billion in 2007.

VEOLIA WATER, the water division of Veolia Environnement, is the world leader in water services. Veolia Water specializes in managing water services outsourced by municipal authorities, industry and tertiary sector companies. Veolia Water operates in 57 countries, serves 108 million people, employs 70,700 employees, and had revenue of $12.8 billion in 2007.

Contact : Luis Maturana

Whittier Filtration

Tel : 562-204-2570
Fax. 562-204-2551
luis.maturana@veoliawater.com

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