Abandoned Mines Could Lock Away Carbon in Wyoming

A pilot in Wyoming is testing whether mine waste can absorb CO2 at former sites, a method still at field-test stage.

Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Environmental

Isometric editorial illustration of a stepped mine basin with a teal pit lake, a pale waste-rock mound, and a pipe feeding water into the lake with carbonate blocks on the lakebed. — Aquarry has launched a Wyoming pilot testing whether dissolving alkaline mine waste into abandoned pit lakes can lock away atmospheric CO2 as solid carbonate rock. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Aquarry, a Colorado-based deep tech climate startup, has launched its first mine remediation pilot deployment in Wyoming. The technology dissolves alkaline mine waste into pit lakes at former mines, boosting the water's ability to absorb CO2 and locking atmospheric carbon away as solid carbonate rock; the Wyoming system is installed and is still in the monitoring phase, so the approach remains pilot-stage rather than commercially proven.

Why it matters

Turning abandoned mine sites into carbon sinks would give a long-idle category of industrial land a climate role, and a working pilot is the first real-world test of whether that chemistry holds outside the lab. Wyoming's pilot will show how natural conditions affect the process, the kind of field data that determines whether the approach can scale.

The evidence so far is a funding total and site-scale feedstock volumes rather than measured carbon capture performance. The Baie Verte figures of 50 million tonnes of asbestos tailings and 250 million tonnes of waste rock indicate the scale of available alkaline material, while the Wyoming pilot's monitored CO2 uptake results have not yet been reported.

The players

Aquarry

A Colorado-based deep tech climate startup that turns alkaline mine waste into carbon-locking pit lakes at former mines.

Wren

A company that ran a Slingshot fundraiser supporting Aquarry's technology.

BAIE Minerals

The partner Aquarry will work with as part of the Atlantic Carbon Mineral Hub in Baie Verte, Newfoundland.

The details

Aquarry's process starts with alkaline mine waste, material rich in minerals that react with carbon dioxide, which is dissolved into the water of a pit lake at a former mine. The dissolved material raises the water's capacity to absorb CO2 from the air, and that carbon is then converted into solid carbonate rock, a stable mineral form that keeps it locked away. The process is entirely wet, so it generates no harmful dust.

Last year (2025): Wren's Slingshot fundraiser for Aquarry raised $248,906.
November 2026: Aquarry launches a new fundraising round.
2027: Aquarry undertakes further asbestos-specific lab work and engineering.
Summer 2028: Aquarry plans an on-site demonstration in Baie Verte, Newfoundland.

The Tech Race

Aquarry's approach sits within efforts to use mineral carbonation for durable carbon removal, a field where most work remains at lab or pilot scale. Its planned Baie Verte deployment on asbestos tailings extends that effort to a feedstock that, in the extraction, is described as alkaline and magnesium-rich.

For now the technology reaches people only through pilot sites and a planned demonstration rather than any commercial service. The practical change for residents near former mines would come later, if monitoring confirms the process works and is safe for local water quality.

The takeaway

The key trajectory is whether a field-tested pilot can show durable carbon storage and clean water outcomes at a real mine. Watch for the Baie Verte on-site demonstration planned for summer 2028 and any published Wyoming monitoring results on CO2 uptake and water quality.

What happens next

Aquarry plans to undertake further asbestos-specific lab work and engineering in 2027, and to hold an on-site demonstration in Baie Verte in summer 2028.