Bioleaching
BacTech's technology is commercially proven and scalable in a short period of time. The benefits and use cases are vast.
Technology
Overview
Our technology, bioleaching, uses naturally-occurring bacteria to neutralize toxic mining sites and allows for environmentally-friendly processing in the mining industry.
Summary
Bioleaching’s naturally-occurring bacteria are harmless to both humans and the environment. The concentrates and tailings we target contain ores and related materials contaminated by arsenic and other substances that are poisonous to humans and animals, as well as harmful to the local environment.
The sulphides in these tailings react (oxidize) with the atmosphere to create an acidic solution called acid rock drainage (“ARD”), which seeps into the surrounding area over time. BacTech’s bioleaching process can stabilize these toxins from minerals and prevent additional harmful ARD. The technology provides a “Garden of Eden” environment for the bacteria to thrive and multiply and permits them to achieve in 6 days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally.
The tailings created by bioleaching are benign, and zero environmental damage occurs as a result of the process. An added bonus is its ability to recover valuable metals such as gold, silver, cobalt and nickel that remain in the tailings.
Benefits
Economic
• Better pay to miners and remediation of tailings at no cost to government/miner
• Revenues through the recovery of contained metals — Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Zn, Co
• Local opportunities for work, training, development and the start of a new ‘green metal’ industry
• Lower cost than the alternatives (e.g. pressure oxidation) and requires less capital
• Easy to expand to accommodate additional tonnage from many types of mines within a region
Environment
• The bacteria are naturally occurring and harmless to the environment and human health
• Toxic heavy metals, like arsenic, are converted into stable, environmentally benign products
• What is being treated is the actual source of acid generation and not the symptoms
• Prevention of future Acid Mine Drainage through sulphide neutralization
• No gaseous emissions such as S02 or As203
• Efficient reuse of water from the process
• Reduction in use of mercury by artisanal miners
Technical
• Technology is already commercially proven and ready for deployment
• BacTech has “in-house” capacity for the design, construction and operation of the plant
• It is a continuous process which is safe, easy to operate and flexible
• Scalable in a short period of time and capable of processing a wide variety of low to high grade mine tailings
Patents
BacTech has always protected its intellectual property through the application of process patents in countries where deemed necessary. Since bacteria are naturally occurring, we cannot apply for any protection on them as entities, but can apply for patents relating to their application. We will continue to advance our base metal bioleach technology and we will apply for patents as appropriate. However, we have found that the art of bioleaching is made up of 50% process patent and 50% know-how, which can only be acquired through a lengthy commercial track record.