TORONTO, CANADA: BacTech Environmental Corporation is now evaluating potential engineering companies to conduct an independent Feasibility Study (FS) for the company’s Ponce Enriquez Bioleaching Project.
The FS will consider sample collection and final test work results to produce detailed plans and estimates that encompass plant design, constructability, and scheduling. The study will be used to guide production decisions, financing considerations, and permitting activities –all culminating with the final representation of the plant build and operational planning requirements.
The FS will provide input to the plant design criteria and expectations of process economics. The Company has a shortlist of sites and is working towards agreements that would allow BacTech to perform the necessary geotechnical evaluations to ensure suitability. No offers have been made at this stage.
“I’m pleased to report this important step, as an independent Feasibility Study is what essentially guides a concept down the path to completion,” said Ross Orr, CEO of BacTech Environmental.
“We’re looking for a strong metallurgical mining engineering group that knows design, logistics and infrastructure, but also understands the significance of the environmental standards that we’re building our business around. We remain on track, and we intend to retain a firm that knows South America and prioritizes both economics and expediency.”
BacTech is a proven environmental technology company, delivering effective and eco-friendly bio-mining and remediation solutions to commercial operations to smartly process and recover preferred metals (gold, silver, cobalt, and copper) and safely remove and transform harmful contaminants like arsenic into benign EPA-approved products for landfill.
BacTech is pursuing a new owner-operated bioleaching facility in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador where arsenic is well-known to exist alongside gold mining. Company’s plan is to build a 50 tpd bioleach plant capable of treating high gold/arsenic material in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador. A 50 tpd plant, processing 1.5 ounces of gold per tonne of feed, would produce approximately 26,000 ounces per year. Plant designs are modular and can be expanded without affecting ongoing production.