Decentralized Utility

- At Scale

Leveraging Green Hydrogen and Geothermal Resources.

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Who We Are

Elko Heat Company (EHC), founded in 1982 through a Department of Energy Grant, is a 42-year-old public utility in Elko, Nevada. Specializing in geothermal heating, EHC uses its unique artisanal water for mineral harvesting and provides district heating services to 23 customers. The company's well yields 400 gallons per minute of potable geothermal water with 2100 acre-ft consumptive rights.

Pilot Story

Elko Heat Company (EHC) has made notable progress in sustainable mineral harvesting, initially revealing substantial quantities of rare-earth minerals in its geothermal water during a 2022 pilot. Subsequent pilots in 2023 and 2024 demonstrated a 13% increase in mineral yield.

EHC, in partnership with H2O MH, has made significant investment since 2020 to optimize advanced filtration technologies such as Reverse Osmosis, Electro-Dialysis Reversal, and Solar Distillation. These efforts led to the development of a hybrid filtration system that efficiently recovers and separates minerals.

The pilot systems produced ultra-pure water and identified valuable minerals including silica for plastics and textiles, lithium for EV batteries, thorium for nuclear energy, barium for nuclear medicine, boron for rocket fuel, and silicon for semiconductors.

Case studies confirmed the economic and sustainable viability of harvesting these minerals. EHC's investments and innovative approaches position it as a leader in sustainable mineral extraction.