… speak of upping recovery rate from current 35 per cent to  over 90 per cent
TWO United States-based mineral processing companies have indicated their interest in boosting the recovery of gold in small and medium scale mines in Guyana from the current rate of approximately 35 per cent recovery to over 90 per cent.
Monday last, Ensurge Inc., a U.S.-based resource company normally focused on developing gold properties in Brazil, announced by way of a media release that it had arrived at an agreement with Correia Mining Company of Guyana for applying improved processing technology locally.
Under this agreement, the company stated and its partner, GlobalMin Guyana Inc., will process tailings at currently operating and abandoned mining sites owned by Correia with the intention of recovering gold, platinum, palladium silver and potentially precious stones not previously extracted.
Under the terms, Ensurge, acting on behalf of itself and GlobalMin Guyana, will design, construct and operate tailings processing facilities at Correia’s mines located along the Mazaruni River, a well-known source of alluvial gold.
The first of these facilities will be located at Putareng, Region 7 (Cuyuni /Mazaruni) and upon establishing successful operations there, a second facility will be constructed at Olive Creek, approximately 10 miles downriver.
In exchange for granting Ensurge and GlobalMin access to tailings at its mining sites and providing logistical support and assistance with regulatory matters, Correia will earn a 14 per cent royalty on the value of precious metals and stones recovered and sold from those mining sites.
A detailed operating agreement between Ensurge and Correia will be developed shortly.
Jordan Estra, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ensurge, said, “We are excited by the opportunity to join our partner, GlobalMin, in developing facilities to recover gold, silver, platinum, palladium and potentially diamonds from tailings left behind along the Mazaruni River in Guyana.
“ Preliminary sampling and assaying of these tailings have indicated a wide range of precious metals and platinum group metal content. Sampling, assaying and metallurgical recovery process development is on-going,” he said.
Officials of Haber Inc. of Arlington, Massacheusetts, last week reported that they will be coming to Guyana within a matter of weeks to demonstrate technology which achieves recovery in the 90 per cent range to significantly increase the revenues earned by both miners and the country as a whole.
In a press release, the company said that the potential of instituting high efficiencies in gold production has important implications for the wealth of miners, the country, and the rate of depletion of gold resources.
“Introduction of Haber’s technology will significantly increase the revenues earned by the country and its people by recovering most of the available gold.”
Haber Inc. also disclosed that its “proprietary technologies” in the separation of gold from the commercially worthless material that surrounds it, or is closely mixed with it, is also “green” in the sense that it does not employ mercury and has no adverse impact on the environment.
The company said that it will be performing demonstrations locally on the efficacy of its mineral processing method for the benefit of miners and other stakeholders during the targeted period.