BacTech – Bioleaching Silver from the Historic Cobalt Camp
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OverviewBacTech is a publicly listed Canadian company with its shares quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange (Symbol: BM). The Company owns proprietary bacterial oxidation technology that liberates precious and base metals from difficult to treat sulphide ores and concentrates. Bacterial oxidation is a safe and environmentally friendly process. It has the advantage of improving metal recovery at significantly lower capital and operating costs when compared to the traditional treatment methods of smelting, roasting and pressure oxidation. BacTech is a proven leader in the commercialization of bacterial oxidation technology in the metal extractive industry. Chief ProjectsCobalt Camp Tailings ReclamationIn 1903, silver was discovered in Cobalt and that set off a mining rush similar to the Klondike gold fields. Between 1903 and 1922, over 300 million ounces of silver were produced from 100 mines. Keep in mind, that a mine can be anything from a project with a 1,000 foot shaft, to a hole in the ground made by a lone miner following a silver-rich vein underground. In any event, the grades of some of the veins in this camp reached 1,000 ounces per ton, meaning that a significant amount of silver was left behind if it was deemed to be too difficult to recover. In addition, there were very few applications or uses for cobalt metal in those times, and so it was thrown out with the silver tails. Recently, cobalt metal traded as high as $50 per pound compared to historic prices closer to $3 per pound. All of this means that there is considerable value entombed in the tailings of this mining camp and the hard work of blasting and lifting rock to surface has been paid for by someone else. But there is also a big problem associated with the Cobalt tailings… arsenic. To begin with, the background levels of arsenic that occur naturally in the rock of Cobalt are very high. With the crushing of rock in search of silver, the arsenic has become mobile, and today has leached into the local lakes and streams to such a point that there are very high levels of arsenic in the local water. One of the attributes of BacTech’s bioleaching is its ability to liberate arsenic from its sulphide host. This, in turn, allows us to “marry” the arsenic with iron to produce a benign and stable ferric arsenate product that has been approved for conventional disposal by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. BacTech has identified a long-standing environmental problem which we hope to correct or mitigate, while also producing a profit from the production of silver, cobalt and nickel. Papua New GuineaRecently, BacTech signed agreements with Yamana Gold Inc. and Gold Aura Limited, two companies who have been working on two gold projects in Papua New Guinea for the past 10 years. The gold deposits are refractory in nature, so they fit BacTech’s strategy of acquiring metallurgically challenging deposits. It’s our first acquisition of what we hope will be many more. Our goal is to amass over 1 million ounces in the ground by year end. Under the terms of the agreement, BacTech will issue 15 million common shares to Yamana as compensation for the purchase. Yamana will own a 19.97% equity interest (non-diluted) in BacTech post closing of the transaction. BacTech will also provide bioleach consulting on one Yamana project going forward. On closing, the existing agreement between Gold Aura Limited (”GOA”) and Yamana will be cancelled to accommodate BacTech’s participation. Management
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Search for BacTech Mining NewsWhat is Bioleaching? What does BacTech do?Put simply, some metals are easy to separate from rock and some aren’t. BacTech uses naturally occurring bacteria (bioleaching) to help separate metal from the tougher rock. Our technology provides a suitable environment for the bacteria within the plant, creating a ‘garden of eden’ for them to live in. The separation technology achieves in 6 days what would normally take 20 years to occur in nature. That’s 500,000 times faster. And they work all day and demand very little. Now that’s a work force! Best of all, the tailings created are benign and no environmental damage occurs. We are one of only two companies worldwide who have commercally proven, bioleaching technology. BacTech has just signed a major deal with Yamana Gold, involving the purchase of two of their refractory gold deposits. Our team is continually searching for viable deposits that would benefit from our technology. |
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March 31st, 2009 at 8:58 am
[...] complete story, click this link. Follow developments in resource mining and exploration for free. Sign on to The Resource Stock [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 7:38 am
[...] BacTech Mining(CVE:BM) announced today that the company is planning to drill 10-12 large diameter holes at the Castle Mine tailings site in Ontario, Canada. BacTech is working towards a feasibility study on the economics of a planned bioleaching facility that will process and stabilize waste from historic mines. [...]
October 19th, 2009 at 6:55 am
[...] BacTech (TSX VENTURE:BM), today announced that it has closed their third and final part of private placements for $ 25,000. In total, BacTech issued 5,282,500 units at 8 cents each, for total gain of $422,600. After a year (October 15, 2010) the purchaser would be entitled to 12 cents of share (1.5 share purchased as of today’s date) [...]
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