Having secured a one week trial with one of the world’s largest resource companies, water tech company SciDev (ASX: SDV) now has a foot in the door at Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) with hopes of scaling the engagement to something more long-term.

SciDev’s trial comes following a competitive tender process where Fortescue sought water treatment solutions at its Solomon Hub in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.

While the trial is valued at $60,000 the opportunity it presents SciDev is significantly larger if the trial of their MaxiFlox® chemistry goes well.

“The agreement with Fortescue further extends the presence of SciDev chemistry and services across major mining projects in Australia,” said SciDev Managing Director, Lewis Utting.

“With water being a premium commodity in the Pilbara, SciDev’s technology can add real benefit to our customers as well as reduce their environmental footprint.

“The continued growth of SciDev and our ability to work with and service major mining companies such as Fortescue highlights the caliber of the SciDev team in executing the technical and commercial evaluations with our customers.”

Specialising in chemistry and process control for separation, SciDev already services resource companies with water treatment solutions across gas and mining sectors.

For the Quarter ending 31 December 2020, SciDev has benefited from recovery in the US Oil & Gas sector which is a core customer segment for the chemistry company. This resulted in $10.2 million in cash receipts for the Quarter which represented a 82% increase on their September Quarter impacted by COVID-19.

The Fortescue trial continues a string of recent sales opportunities created with SciDev, last month extending its relationship with ExxonMobil with a contract extension valued at USD $500k.