Note: This article was translated from the original.
A delegation from the company Clean Earth Technologies travelled to Mendoza to present a mining model without cyanide. They want to analyse samples to see the feasibility.
More than one in Mendoza raised their eyebrows when hearing about a system to extract gold within the framework of Law 7,722, a rule that prohibits the use of cyanide, mercury, sulfuric acid, and other toxic substances in metal mining. The Australian company that proposes it is Clean Earth Technologies (CET), and its executive President and CEO, Kevin Fell, Vice President of Sales, Paul Kelly, and Regional Sales Manager, Andrés Venafri, visited the province.
The first contact between CET and the Mendoza government took place in Canada, when in June, the province participated in the main world mining fair. They do not present themselves as a mining company, but as a provider of technological solutions and, specifically, their Clean Mining unit (in Spanish, “clean mining”) proposes a reagent that replaces cyanide to obtain gold.
What did you find on this visit to Mendoza?
Kevin Fell: We have been very encouraged by some discussions, we did a public presentation on Wednesday and another on Thursday, and we feel that there is a lot of interest in the mining sector. In the short or medium term we need samples to be sent to Australia to be analysed in our laboratory, in order to test if our technology can work in Mendoza.
We had a meeting at Government House with Governor Suarez and we talked about all the possibilities we have, and he was very interested in helping this move forward. There is no investment commitment, but rather the intention to carry out a joint analysis. It is one of the steps in a long road.
You made two presentations, was your proposal well received?
Initially, there was a high level of skepticism, but we stated that we are a solution provider, not a mining company. We are here to create jobs, provide tools and facilitate solutions for local companies. There was concern with water for agriculture, and we are a non-toxic solution for mining, we recycle 95% of the water we use.
Many mining disasters are due to tailing dams (or containment dams) breaking, but our process allows the water and reagent to be filtered, so that they return to the beginning of the process. So we don't need tailings dams, but we have environmentally friendly dry tailings, which can be used to make roads, for example.
Do you have other projects in South America? Why Mendoza?
In 2019, we started testing our solution with a mine in Australia. Today in South America we have clients with projects at different stages of progress, in countries such as Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Colombia.
If something materializes in Mendoza, it would be the first project in Argentina. Mendoza is interesting because of the difficulties in mining in the traditional way, and we believe that the government is genuinely looking to do something different, with high ESG (Environment, Society and Governance) standards.
IN SEARCH OF THE SAMPLES
The next step is to analyse samples of Mendoza minerals and see how they respond to the Clean Mining's solution, since a block is taken and in the process the gold is separated from other minerals. Paul Kelly, Vice President of Sales for CET, commented, “We were introduced to a number of businessmen who can get samples and we can work together. We also spoke with people from the environment ministry, we had a very collaborative debate and we left understanding that many people can collaborate in the analysis”.
What kind of projects can use your solution?
Kevin Fell: Our system works for small mines of 1 or 2 tons per hour but also for large scale mines with hundreds of tons per day. The early test tells us if we can extract the gold with our solution.
This first analysis involves a couple of thousand dollars, mainly for the cost of shipping to Australia, we have no profit from doing the testing. Large mining projects need to analyse tons, we only need 15 kilos. Another cost is putting together the engineering of a project, but that will depend on how much ore can be extracted.
Do you think of any particular area?
The ideal is to receive samples from different departments, depending on the available deposits. We were shown many files of mining projects stopped in Las Heras, which are now going to be encouraged to verify if something can be done. There are two deposits already committed in the south, in Malargüe. We are open to testing samples from anywhere.
Do you have support from technical sectors in Argentina?
In Buenos Aires we met with the Executive Director of INTI (National Institute of Industrial Technology). They are very interested in working together and advancing in the certification for assuring the industry and the public that our product does not really have toxic or dangerous elements.
We have also started talks with universities and environmental sectors, engineers and geologists. Stages of discussion already started. Anyway, now we need the support to have the samples, because without samples we cannot analyse.
What final reflection do you make of this trip?
The visit has been very positive. We met many people from different parts of the industry and regulators, we left the province thinking that our solution can be brought to Mendoza. If we see that there is a commitment from the government and businessmen, we are committed to analysing mining. We hope to return.
LOCAL PARTNERS
Two businessmen from Mendoza who accompanied the interview were Sergio Devaux, Founder and Director of Ennsight (dedicated to energy, mining and innovation), and Omar Escalante, General Manager of Frimont (of refrigeration systems). They commented that there is alot of interest in local mining to be able to analyze samples and use the technology proposed by Clean Mining, in order to reactivate projects that cannot be carried out today.
The CET partners commented that today's mining exploration is very behind in Mendoza, but that if it is possible to work within 7722, there would be an incentive to explore. In terms of size, in principle it is not necessary to think about mega-mining because small and medium-sized projects can also take advantage of this technology, not only by multinationals but also by SMEs with local capital.
“We had a very good level debate with irrigation, engineering and environmental specialists. We understand that there is distrust, that is why it is important to formalize ourselves, do things well and not frustrate this possibility. If this really works and we can all verify it, then let's see how it can support Mendoza's economy”, Escalante reflected.