Tag Archives: EnviroGold Global

Think & Act Differently Cohort set to revolutionise in-situ recovery

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The Think & Act Differently (TAD) incubator, powered by BHP, has announced its support for a new cohort that has come together to develop an innovative technology roadmap for in-situ and alternative extraction options, the company says, lower the impact of mining and processing.

In collaboration with its partner, Unearthed, the TAD Cohort was curated through a venture-style selection process, which also involved selection of members from the TAD Ecosystem.

This cohort is supported and funded by BHP, Boliden, Rio Tinto, South32 and IGO, as part of the TAD Collaboration that is commited to unlocking new technologies and reimagining lower impact mining and processing to find value in overlooked resources.

The TAD Cohort comprises a diverse group of companies ready to apply new ways of thinking to in-situ recovery. It includes:

  • Auric BioRecovery: using bio recovery processes to release metal from tailings;
  • Clean & Recover: ElectroClear recovery of water from acid mine drainage;
  • Destiny Copper: Using high activation potential and chemistry to eliminate electricity requirements for plating copper;
  • Draslovka: A ‘green’ recyclable lixiviant, selective in leaching base and precious metals from host minerals (pictured in a test lab above);
  • Eden GeoPower: Rock preconditioning technology to enable in-situ solution mining;
  • Ekion: Enabling the in-situ extraction of metals using electrokinetics;
  • EnviroGold Global: Clean-technology process for metal recovery from sulphide mine tailings and smelter residues; metal recovery includes strategic, critical, base and precious metals;
  • LeadFX: Metal recovery with CO2 capture;
  • Loop Hydrometallurgy: Clean technology unlocking copper, rare earth elements and other metals from tailings and concentrates;
  • Muon Vision: Cosmic ray sensing for tailings and heap leach monitoring; and
  • Precision Periodic: Enabling industrial scale chromatography using novel filtration media to recover and concentrate elements in mining applications and treatment of wastewater.

EnviroGold Global boosts environmental remediation, recovery capabilities with IP expansion

Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining services, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , ,

EnviroGold Global says it has expanded its IP portfolio by acquiring 20 patents and designs that relate to iron ore beneficiation, electrochemical oxidation and the removal and destruction of contaminants including cyanide, arsenic, mercury and selenium.

The CleanTech IP, as it is referred to, is comprised of 13 patents and seven design patents with active registrations in the United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Chile.

EnviroGold Global’s proprietary technology is being applied to the company’s Hellyer Tailings Project (pictured), in Tasmania, Australia, where independent analysis from the company’s flowsheet development partner, Core Resources, has demonstrated gold recovery rates in excess of 80% and silver recovery rates in excess of 90% for total project after-tax free cash flows of $350 million, it says.

The application of the company’s proprietary technology to the Hellyer tailings is expected result in the production of around 965,000 oz of gold-equivalent over an a circa-8 year project life through the liberation of precious metals, including gold and silver, and critical metals, including copper, lead and zinc.

The CleanTech IP also includes patents related to the removal of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from mining and industrial effluents. Commonly referred to as “Forever Chemicals”, PFAS are rapidly emerging as contaminants of significant concern for the global mining industry, according to EnviroGold Global, with the US Environmental Protection Agency proposing the designation of two of the most widely used PFAS as hazardous substances under CERCLA or Superfund.

The company expects the CleanTech IP will significantly enhance its metal recovery and environmental remediation capabilities while facilitating future growth into direct lithium extraction, where the technology has demonstrated significant potential.

EnviroGold Chief Technology Officer, Brock Hill, said: “EnviroGold Global’s core identity is as a clean tech innovator focused on developing and commercialising IP, which can generate substantial profits for shareholders while solving social and environmental challenges. This expansion of EnviroGold Global’s IP portfolio advances our strategy significantly, enhancing the company’s technical foundations and opening new avenues for the development of high-value solutions for industry and society.”

EnviroGold highlights sustainable metal reprocessing credentials at Hellyer, Buchans Tailings projects

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EnviroGold Global Limited says the precious (gold, silver) and battery metals (copper, zinc, lead) to be produced at the company’s Hellyer Tailings and Buchans Tailings reprocessing projects are expected to show a 96% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity per gold-ounce-equivalent produced and an over 80% reduction in energy intensity relative to industry averages for conventional mining.

EnviroGold Global’s circular-economy business model is designed to produce precious, critical and strategic metals while reprocessing mine waste (tailings), which often contain significant quantities of valuable precious, critical and strategic metals.

EnviroGold Global’s analytics-driven approach to project origination and development leverages extensive mine production data, mill production data and geological records to identify tailings sites that are expected to contain significant quantities of residual metals due to refractory mineralogy and/or to the inefficiency of outdated technology used during legacy mining operations. In addition to recovering precious, critical and strategic metals, the company says it remediates the tailings consistent with environmental best practices, thereby reducing the environmental footprint of legacy mining. Further, by eliminating the extractive phase (mining) of metal production, the company expects to reduce the energy intensity of metal production by over 80%.

Leveraging the framework set forth by the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol, EnviroGold Global’s detailed assessments of expected Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for the company’s planned operations at the Hellyer Tailings and Buchans Tailings reprocessing projects indicate that the carbon intensity of the gold-equivalent ounces of precious, critical and strategic metals produced by the company will be 96% lower than industry averages for conventional mining. S&P Global Market Intelligence reports that the typical conventional mining operations generated nearly 1 tonne of CO2 per gold ounce produced.

Just last month, EnviroGold Global executed a binding definitive agreement with Hellyer Gold Mines Pty Ltd to reprocess the tailings owned by HGM at its namesake mine in Tasmania, Australia (pictured). Hellyer is owned by NQ Minerals, with the company having a plan to increase its financial year production to 1.5 Mt of tailings reprocessing in 2022, from the estimated 1.4 Mt in 2021. Earlier this month, EnviroGold announced that test work completed to date on its proprietary flowsheet demonstrated gold recovery rates of 83.5% and silver recovery rates of 94.6% from the refractory, volcanogenic massive sulphide tailings at Hellyer.

In 2021, it announced the execution of binding commercial agreements, which saw the Buchans River Delta Reclamation Project added to its portfolio of environmental remediation and asset reclamation projects, saying that it planned to deploy proprietary modular, scalable reclamation technology & systems able to process up to 1,000 t/d of reclaimed tailings to remediate the legacy tailings while removing environmental contaminants and reclaiming valuable commodities at the project.

EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr Mark Thorpe, said: “Whether serving as critical components for batteries, electric vehicles and clean-energy infrastructure, or as a store of value and hedge against inflation, metals have never been more critical to the modern, global circular economy. EnviroGold Global’s Metals Without Mining business model is designed to sustainably satisfy the world’s increasing demand for precious, critical and strategic metals by eliminating the most carbon and energy intensive phases of metal production, creating a win-win for corporate, community and environmental stakeholders.”

The Global Tailings Review reports that the total number of active, inactive and closed tailings storage facilities worldwide exceeds 8,500. The global footprint of tailings exceeds 280,000 Mt with an additional 12,700 Mt produced annually. The value of precious, critical and strategic metals contained in global tailings sites is estimated to exceed $3.4 trillion.

EnviroGold Global’s commercial strategy involves identifying, qualifying and developing tailings reprocessing opportunities, generally targeting tailings sites with at least 6 Mt of tailings and gross recoverable metal value of $124/t of tailings. Tailings sites meeting EnviroGold Global’s internal assessment criteria pass through an advanced screening process, which includes detailed technical/economic modelling incorporating expected recovery rates and site-specific process-level economic analysis.

The company has reviewed over 325 global tailings sites to date and has eight “major projects” in its global tailings reprocessing portfolio. EnviroGold Global expects to commence commercial metal production in 2022 at its Hellyer Tailings reprocessing project. The company will continue to acquire the rights to tailings reprocessing opportunities around the globe and subsequent to achieving commercial metal production at the Hellyer project will leverage strategic operating partnerships to scale up commercial metal production at multiple projects simultaneously.

EnviroGold Global to reprocess Hellyer Gold Mines tailings in Tasmania

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EnviroGold Global has executed a binding definitive agreement with Hellyer Gold Mines Pty Ltd to reprocess the tailings owned by HGM at its namesake mine in Tasmania, Australia.

The execution of the transaction cements a major growth catalyst for EnviroGold Global, paving the way for finalisation of project financing negotiations and materially advancing the company’s accelerated pathway towards commercial production of precious metals (gold and silver), clean energy metals and battery metals (copper, lead, zinc) in 2022, it said.

The Definitive Agreement provides for a multi-stage tailings reprocessing project wherein EnviroGold Global will add its mineral processing technology to the currently operational and permitted Hellyer Gold Mine. EnviroGold Global and HGM believe this partnership will result in operational synergies and, in conjunction with EnviroGold Global’s independently validated, proprietary metallurgical solution for the Hellyer VMS tailings, will drive significantly increased metal recovery rates for the gold, silver, zinc, lead and copper contained in the Hellyer tailings.

EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr Mark Thorpe, said: “The execution of the definitive agreement with HGM is a testament to the quality of our world-class team and the commitment of HGM’s management and team to establish a working partnership for success. It represents the achievement of a strategic milestone for EnviroGold Global on our journey to producing precious, critical, and strategic metals at seven major projects by 2025.

“We are pleased to continue to deliver on our commitments to our shareholders and stakeholders while establishing circular-economy leadership through the production of Metals Without Mining. We look forward to announcing the execution of additional major growth catalysts in the near-term including finalisation of project financing negotiations for the Hellyer Tailings Project, establishment of a strategic operating partnership with a global EPCM company, publishing the Buchans Tailings Project resource estimate and advancing the development of our global tailings reprocessing project portfolio.”

Hellyer is owned by NQ Minerals, with the company having a plan to increase its financial year production to 1.5 Mt of tailings reprocessing in 2022, from the estimated 1.4 Mt in 2021.

CMIC looks to commercialise technologies within ReThinkMining subsidiary

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The Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) has announced the launch of ReThinkMining Ventures Inc (RMV), a for-profit subsidiary of CMIC.

Established to commercialise the technology in which CMIC is directly vested, ReThinkMining Ventures will help accelerate the development and deployment of new technology that will address critical needs of the mining industry, CMIC said.

CMIC’s goal is to reduce the mining industry’s energy use, water use and environmental footprint by 50%, by 2027. It has been working with major global players in the move toward zero waste mining, striving to develop technologies and innovations that will reduce waste, lower costs and mitigate environmental impacts across all aspects of mining.

The CMIC approach to these and other challenges is to start by developing technology roadmaps that align the industry on common challenges, and also help create a paradigm shift in terms of what is possible. At the tactical level, CMIC creates teams, or consortia, of mining companies and suppliers to co-develop new technology, and also co-develop the implementation of new technology.

Mark Thorpe, CEO of EnviroGold Global and Chair of CMIC’s Board of Directors, said: “This is a major, positive advance for the CMIC. As the Chair of the Board of Directors, I congratulate the entire team on achieving this milestone. We are ready to complete the work to start the commercialisation of the exciting projects that are in the CMIC project pipeline, which has been our long-term goal.”

Nancy Guay, Vice President Technical Services & Innovation, Agnico Eagle, and a board member of ReThinkMining Ventures Inc and CMIC, said: “This announcement marks an exciting new chapter of CMIC and will create true value for all our partners. We will work with the new team and partners to realise the full potential of those projects to drive the future growth of new technologies. Thanks, everyone, for the hard work and commitments.”

Carl Weatherell, CMIC Executive Director and CEO, added: “The creation of ReThinkMining Ventures is part of the natural evolution of CMIC and fills a serious void in the mining innovation ecosystem.”

EnviroGold Global eyes major tailings reprocessing opportunity

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EnviroGold Global Limited says it has identified a target market opportunity that could exceed $10 billion for its tailings reprocessing business line as part of a five-year plan for accelerated growth.

In line with its strategy of remediating and reducing the environmental footprint of mine waste and tailings, EnviroGold Global says it is continuing to target tailings reprocessing opportunities where there is potential for the company to process tailings volumes exceeding 1 Mt with a gross recoverable value of no less than $100/t.

“The total addressable market for the tailings reprocessing industry is massive,” EnviroGold said. “There is an estimated 282.5 billion tonnes of tailings currently sitting on the Earth’s surface with an additional 12.7 billion tonnes of tailings produced annually.”

The value of precious, critical and strategic metals contained in mine tailings is estimated to exceed $3.4 trillion (total addressable market) with over $370 billion of tailings metal content in the company’s expected serviceable and obtainable markets, the company said.

“Further market segmentation undertaken by the company, including internal research, has identified a target market opportunity that could exceed $10 billion,” the company added. “The acquisition and development of the target market opportunities into high-value metal production projects forms the basis of the company’s five-year growth strategy.”

EnviroGold Global says it has one major project under contract, three major projects subject to MoUs, is negotiating commercial terms on two additional major projects and is conducting advanced analysis on three qualified major project opportunities, it said.

“The company expects to leverage its rapid analysis capabilities, its innovative profit share business model, and its scalable, modular approach to project development to acquire and develop nine major projects by 2025 with seven of the nine projects in commercial metal production by this time,” the company added.

One of these opportunities is at the Buchans Project, which includes approximately 1,225 ha of mining claims located in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Consistent with the company’s strategy of reclaiming valuable and strategic commodities while remediating legacy and other environmental hazards, EnviroGold Global anticipates commissioning recovery and clean-up operations in 2022.

EnviroGold Global says it will deploy proprietary modular, scalable reclamation technology and systems designed to remediate the legacy tailings while removing environmental contaminants and reclaiming valuable commodities. The company expects the reclamation technology & systems to be deployed will be designed with the capacity to process up to 1,000 t/d of the reclaimed tailings.

EnviroGold to expand tailings remediation with patent application for proprietary electrochemical process

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EnviroGold Global Ltd has filed a patent application for a proprietary electrochemical process designed to achieve advanced metal recoveries from refractory ores with reduced capital expenditure compared with industry-standard solutions, adding to the company’s suite of solutions for metal recovery and environmental remediation.

“We are very pleased with this development that we believe increases the value of our intellectual property portfolio and expands the company’s opportunities to remediate legacy tailings dumps.”, Dr Mark Thorpe, EnviroGold Global’s CEO, said. “The residual metals contained in tailings are commonly encapsulated in refractory ores and it is estimated that the value of precious metals currently locked up in tailings storage facilities and old mine sites exceeds $1 trillion, increasing by $20 billion per annum. Further, as the proportion of refractory gold reserves continues to increase globally, we believe the ability to achieve advanced metal recovery rates and attractive economics from the processing of refractory ores provides better environmental outcomes, expands the company’s addressable market and creates an enduring, competitive advantage.”

Commenting on the patent filing, EnviroGold Global’s Chief Technology Officer, Brock Hill, said: “Refractory ores resist conventional metal extraction due to an impervious mineral matrix surrounding super-fine metal particles. The complex processes required to significantly improve extraction from these ores can drive substantial increases in a project’s capital expenditure and operating expenditure, often rendering otherwise attractive resource recovery opportunities uneconomic. EnviroGold Global’s patent pending process is designed with advanced electrochemical technology to induce changes in the metal-bearing matrix and achieve superior metal recovery rates.”

This process, in conjunction with other proprietary solutions developed for the removal of environmental contaminants, including cyanide, allows EnviroGold Global to provide a compelling value proposition for mine site owners while reclaiming and recharging natural resources, ultimately positioning the company to actively increase its significant tailings reprocessing pipeline, it said.