Inventor Recovers Precious Stones From Holding Ponds

As every miner knows, holding ponds do more than simply hold waste materials from entering into and contaminating the environment. In fact, they also contain an untapable fortune in suspended minerals too small to have been collected during the conventional milling process.

In other words, “holding ponds” are loaded with precious metal particles or small precious stones that have literally slipped through their owner’s fingers.

Knowing that millions, perhaps billions of dollars worth of precious minerals are just sitting there in their holding ponds makes many owners anxious and quite honestly, frustrated and angry. Their hands have been technically tied because in most cases, they haven’t been able to find an economical way to recover the wealth from their waste. Some have even posted multi-million-dollar rewards in their search for answers and solutions.

It’s not a new problem, however, because even the old-time miners panning for gold in rivers discarded the smaller finds while searching for larger, more obvious and cashable discoveries. And the same holds true today. The only difference being is that today’s miners don’t throw them away, they collect and save them in their holding ponds, helplessly knowing there’s still a fortune sitting in those huge ponds right outside their windows.

And what’s more, it’s already on the surface just sitting there looking back at them.

But again, the problem lies in how to get to and economically extract the embedded minerals?

One possible answer comes from David Krofchak, P. Eng, a civil, chemical and metallurgical specialists. From his labs in Copper Cliff, Ont, Mr. Krofchak has experimented with ways of extracting precious minerals suspended in waste materials and as a result, he (with help from associates Dr. Roberto Bernardi and Millwright David Howe) has invented and has received a U. S Patent for what is simply known as “A-15.”

Technically, Krofchak’s invention (based on an idea by Peter Howe, chairman of Ateba Resources Inc., Toronto (cnsx-atr))is a two-stage process that involves accelerating the solidification of tailings’ waste, re-mining the resultant solid material, then through the second stage in the process, dissolving it back into a liquid state to separate the clays and other holding materials from the embedded precious stones and other minerals.

The invention turns holding ponds into “renewed” and highly valuable reserves for their owners.

Without giving away too much information about his invention, Mr. Krofchak did agree to talk with Canadian Mining Journal’s Editor Russ Noble to briefly explain how his “A-15” invention works.

Here’s what he’d share about his invention.

“As we’ve already mentioned, my invention relates to the recovery of precious metals and stones from aqueous clay suspensions containing such particles in suspension with clay particles. These particles may, for example, be gold particles or small precious stones like diamonds, sapphires or rubies.

“Many ore bodies containing precious metals and precious stones are found in complex deposits, such as sedimentary, alluvial, oxidized volcanic bodies and laterites, which also contain clay. Such ore bodies are usually mixed with water, the coarse material screened out, and the resultant concentrate treated in a further process where precious metals and/or precious stones are recovered.

“Although this process works fairly well, it has been found that the clay content often forms balls which plug the screens and generally interfere with the recovery process. It’s known that the clay balls encapsulate appreciable quantities of precious metal particles and small precious stones which are lost in reject tailings,” said Krofchak.

He went on the explain that these valuable minerals are present in suspension with clay particles in tailings ponds and so far, the problem of preventing the formation of clay balls and recovering their suspended precious contents has not yet been solved in a cost-effective manner.

Until now, that is, as David Krofchak’s “A-15” invention has proven. Precious metal particles and/or precious stones can be separated from the clay particles in the suspension by means of a deflocculating agent. According to the invention, a sufficient deflocculating agent is added to cause deflocculation of the clay particles, allowing the deflocculated suspension to settle, and the settled material containing the metals and/or stones to be recovered.

The key to the entire recovery process is obviously in the Patent’s “deflocculating agent” and the chemical formula at which it is added to the waste, but the most interesting and encouraging thing about the “A-15” invention is twofold: It was invented by a Canadian and secondly; it finally provides some mine owners with a possible means of recovering and gaining “wealth from waste.”