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Paul M. Jones   
phone: (607) 293-7336(RLMS)    

fax: (607) 293-7336(RLMS)   
rockyledgemining@hotmail.com
  

A Leaching Primer 


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Here is some information that will help you learn more about the CDE 2 Leach System.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me or give me a call at (607) 293-7336 (RLMS).

Click on these links to jump to the topics below:

Tailings, Waste Piles and Profits
A Leaching Primer
CDE 2 Leach
The Color of Money
The Leach System
Independent Test Results
Leach Plant Flow Chart

 

Tailings, Waste Piles and Profits

Throughout the world there are literally billions of tons of spent ore in waste piles dotting the landscape. Multiple millions of dollars of non-renewable resources are lying about in huge mountains of forgotten materials.

Companies have spent large amounts of money to locate, excavate, size reduce and process these reserves. Some of the ventures were efficient, some of the technologies worked and some of the operations made money.

Why is so much metallurgical value languishing in forgotten mountains of waste?

  1. They did not realize they were suffering a loss.
  2. They were aware of the losses but were unable to alter the situation.
  3. They were aware of the losses but found it convenient to ignore or to deny the loss was of any significance
  4. The "best" technology available was inadequate

If the best methods of the day were based on very rich reserves, or cheap labor, or the necessity of producing metals for political reasons, then the recovery was essentially irrelevant.

In the past world of gold mining, the reserves were mined for the rich values leaving mountains of tailings behind. Coarse gold was recovered but microfine gold was not. Some tailing piles have values over 1 ounce to the ton.

Many third world countries operated their metals industries at a loss just to produce hard currency, as in the case of Peru and their copper industry. The communist bloc, or "central planning" countries ran their metals industries to "keep the wheels turning". Czech, Poland, Ukraine and Russia are good examples of this.

In Poland, fairly extensive gold mining was carried on in the 1700s, but they were plagued by "devil gold", a material that would not melt. They left over 150,00 hectares of tailings behind. Platinum was discovered around 1800, but the waste piles were never recovered.

When reviewing the history of metallurgical and mining technologies there is little doubt that millions of tons of waste were declared barren when they in fact contained large economic values. This isn’t meant to criticize yesterdays miner, because the same statement holds true in some cases today.

Some technologies were so flawed that the "West" stopped using them in the last century while the third world held on dearly. Martin furnaces in the steel industry and muffle furnaces in the zinc industry are good examples. Keep also in mind the HAZARDS of turning in politically incorrect reports on efficiencies of recovery and making your boss or the "central planning boards" look bad. In the third world this activity could be quite damaging to your health.

Another thought to ponder is the alteration of materials over time. Chemistry provided by the forces of nature over long periods can and will alter materials. As temperature and moisture levels change within a pile, the pile breathes. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen migrate to the voids. Gases generated within the heap migrate and are modified or expelled. Each rainfall brings a new charge of acids, which continue to alter the minerals. The products of decomposition generate soluble salts that attack other minerals. The metals values may be recoverable now.

The piles are modifying everyday, very slowly, but ever changing.

Today’s technologies recovering yesterday’s wastes. Wastes that are already excavated, size reduced, accessible, of known composition, and a blot on man’s record of environmental stewardship.

The possibilities are quite exciting! The possibility for environmental remediation is enormous!

With this said, we introduce the CDE FAMILY of leach recovery technology. A non-cyanide leach that removes any metal or metallic residue from any media including toxic or hazardous waste. CDE leach liquors will digest and surrender any metal from antimony to zinc.

 A Leaching Primer

Suppose you had a bucket of salt and sand mixed together that you wanted to separate. One method could be individual grain separation by hand. This would work but not very effectively.

Consider then a leaching method using water to dissolve the salt and removing it in liquid form. The liquid could then be evaporated and the salt recovered in solid form. This method would be more efficient, and is a very simple materials recovery method utilizing leaching.

Therefore, for our purposes, leaching is the method of dissolving desired metals for the purpose of recovery, remediation and/or separation.

Water will work on salt but certainly not on metals. The problem is (was) finding a leach to digest or dissolve the metal(s) contaminants. Ancient Alchemists quested for the universal solvent but once they found it they to find no container to hold it.

CDE leach liquors require non-metallic containers.

We now introduce our version of the universal solvent. These leaches have successfully digested every metal and metallic waste that it has been exposed to.

  

CDE 2 Leach

CDE 2 leach:

  1. Is an aqueous base formulation of common materials that combine to create an extremely aggressive method to dissolve, or "digest" metals.
  2. Has an initial 0 pH value.
  3. Has an initial ORP (oxidation reduction potential) in excess of 700 mv
  4. Has been independently evaluated by one of the most respected mine labs in the USA. KD Engineering Co., Inc in conjunction with Metcon Research, Inc did a cyanide/CDE 2 comparison study for gold recovery. Their conclusion was that CDE 2 recovered 6% more gold than the cyanide.
  5. May be formulated in the field by technicians with only rudimentary experience.
  6. Replaces cyanide methods of gold recovery. Cyanide is extremely dangerous to site personnel and the environment. It is an archaic methodology that has no place in today’s world now that there is a better solution.
  7. May be modified to selectively "leave", or not digest certain metals so extremely complex ores can be "simplified". An example would be a silver-bearing ore with a high content of base metals. The host ore can be treated so the base metals dissolve in solution leaving only silica and silver behind. Graviometric separation can then be employed for low-cost separation of the silver.

 

THE COLOR OF MONEY

These are the particular colors that specific metals become when dissolved in my leach.

 

THE LEACH SYSTEM

Mr. Paul Jones developed the leach system in lab and field trials over the past twenty years. The initial intent was to develop a solution that could be used in the field to determine on-the-spot analysis of metal content in rock. Along with a great deal of experimenting in the mining industry, Mr. Jones finally produced a product that not only works for exploration purposes, but also all metals mining situations.

The leach is inexpensive to produce and can be made almost anywhere. With a pH of –1 it is one of the most corrosive chemical compounds known. The unusual nature of the leach is that it is also buffered against all organic material rendering it safe to use and enabling safe disposal.

The single most important element of the hydrometallurgical method of removing metal from ore is to be able to get the metal in the ore into solution. Once in solution there are different ways to extract the metal. The system has been designed to selectively remove the dissolved metals with the use of designer resins. The designer resin industry has been extensively developed for the hazardous waste industry. We have found it to be an excellent, efficient and reliable method for removing the metals from our pregnant solution.

Once the metal has been extracted from the leach solution the remaining leach fluid can be reintroduced to the digestion circuit and recycled over and over again. The environmental impact of the leach residue in the tailings is negligible and contains no harmful chemicals.

This system requires no heat and no pressure in order for effective operation in a mining facility. This allows for construction of a commercial plant at fraction of the cost of hydrometallurgical or other installations. The cost of ongoing operations in a plant would be significantly lower than other systems. Also, the construction time and effective maintenance of the plant would increase bottom-line profits for any company utilizing the system.

The overall effectiveness of the leach system provides answers for many problems in the processing of most metals.

Included is a report from a major lab that ran independent tests and analysis on the leach. The conclusions attained in this letter verify the above statements.

 

To View Independent Test Results, Click Here

Leach Plant Flow Chart - General

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