Dundee Sustainable Technologies says it has received a mandate from a Chinese customer to continue testing of the cyanide alternative CLEVR Process™.

The company has received a 30-kg sample of mineralised material from the customer and a payment for this work, DST said, explaining that the goal of the work is to demonstrate its proprietary CLEVR Process can extract gold at a rate of 95% or better.

Brian Howlett, President and CEO, said: “Management of DST is very excited to be developing our CLEVR Process technology into China at this time. China controls a key portion of the gold and base metals processing capacity in the world and will be a key market going forward for our technologies.”

DST, back in December, said it had completed analysis of the samples from this customer and had been able to increase recovery of the gold from the customer’s concentrate from 71% using cyanide to over 90% at a lab scale using its technology.

CLEVR uses no cyanide, produces no toxic liquid or gaseous effluent, and the solid residues are inert, stable and non-acid generating, according to DST.

DST Management has also submitted a 5-kg sample of glass from its GlassLock Process™ to Chinese authorities for regulatory testing with the goal of classifying the glass as non-hazardous waste product suitable for disposal in the Chinese market.

GlassLock is a patented process for the sequestration and stabilisation of the arsenic often associated with copper, gold, silver or polymetallic deposits.