Researchers from ESPOL and Ghent University have evaluated two methods for treating highly contaminated wastewater mining effluents generated during gold cyanidation in the mining industry: a conventional physico-chemical treatment and a reverse osmosis (RO) system. This innovative study was carried out at the mining company, where the treatment plant was installed and operated for approximately five weeks. During this period, water samples were collected three times a day to analyze critical parameters such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and electrical conductivity (EC). In addition, analyses of ions, total organic and inorganic carbon, total arsenic (AsTOTAL), total cyanide (CNTOTAL), and heavy metals as copper, iron, manganese, zinc, chromium, and lead were performed.