Firm Uses CyanideFree Method To Leach Gold, Other Metals
Toronto, Forbes.com – An old way to leach gold and other metals from ore might be making a comeback to the mining industry. Hydrochloric acid was once used to retrieve metals from rock, but many firms abandoned it for cost reasons for cyanide. But now this old-but-new method is starting to make a comeback.
Neomet, a Quebec-based company, was one of a few firms at PDAC2012, the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention, that was showing off technologies to make mining a little more environmentally friendly. Efforts to move more mining underground or have sustainability plans in place before mining commences was a theme at the convention, which runs through Wednesday in Toronto. Richard Faucher, business development director at Neomet, said this was the second year the firm was at the PDAC. Last year they were treated more like a novelty, while this year there’s been more serious inquiries into the firm’s technology.
The method, which is said to have no discharge and no effluence, is considered cost-competitive with cyanide if the ore contains sulfites, Faucher said, but can be used with oxidized and mixed ores. Tailings are rendered inert and any arsenic in the ore is said to be 100% fixed.
Through the method there is also some recovery of other metals – if also present in the ore – including silver, platinum group metals, iron/hematite, copper, molybdenum and some rare earth metals, he said.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kitconews/2012/03/07/firm-uses-cyanide-free-method-to-leach-gold-other-metals/