Sixth Wave Innovations says it is working with Australia-based Mining and Process Solutions (MPS) on test work initiatives in North America and Australia integrating Sixth Wave’s commercially available IXOS® molecular imprinted polymer for gold extraction with the MPS GlyCat™ process.
The GlyCat process was invented to reduce cyanide consumption while maintaining gold recovery for gold ores from deposits containing nuisance copper. For gold applications, the IXOS platform, meanwhile, is capable of selectively targeting gold while rejecting contaminants such as copper, mercury, and other non-target elements potentially contained in a gold-bearing cyanide leach solution.
The two companies are also working in collaboration with the Centre Technologique des Résidus Industriels (CTRI) and a top 10 gold producer in Canada. This project aims to develop an environmentally-friendly flowsheet for the gold mining industry, examining MPS’ acidic and alkaline leaching technologies, together with Sixth Wave’s molecular imprinted IXOS resin technology for the extraction of gold from alternative lixiviants. Testing is to be undertaken on ores provided by the Canadian mining partner, Sixth Wave said.
A recent study published in the Hydrometallurgy Journal titled ‘Gold recovery from cyanide-starved glycine solutions (Glycat) in the presence of Cu using molecularly imprinted polymer IXOS-AuC’ found that “gold recovery increased, while copper recovery decreased with the increasing gold concentration”, Sixth Wave said. The adsorption behaviour of IXOS-AuC had “the best selectivity compared to three other gold selective resins”, the study added. Other outcomes from the study showed the IXOS-AuC polymer was very robust, allowing reuse without deterioration of the polymer physically (assessed by scanning electron microscopy) or in performance.
“Our collaboration with MPS is an important initiative for Sixth Wave and our IXOS high performance gold extraction products,” Dr Jon Gluckman, President & CEO of Sixth Wave, said. “The industry is keenly interested in new and innovative approaches to leach and recover gold as a replacement, in whole or in part, for conventional processes. In order to focus on lowering capital expenditure and operating expenditure, and to comply with environmental and regulatory constraints, Sixth Wave is extremely interested in leveraging our technology with the benefits of the MPS glycine leaching and recovery process.”
Ivor Bryan, Managing Director of MPS, said: “Our respective technological approaches can bring tremendous value to prospective customers by significantly cutting cyanide usage along with the associated costs and environmental impact.”
Earlier this week, Sixth Wave Innovations signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to trial its IXOS purification polymer at the Rio2 Ltd-owned Fenix gold project in Chile.
