Bacterial Leaching

Description: Process which uses microorganisms for the recovery of precious metals from metal-containing processes and streams. This technology is targeted at using naturally-occurring, sulfate-reducing bacteria for the recovery of gold and silver from ores, instead of the more traditional -- and more toxic -- cyanidation process. How it works: Step 1: Aerobic bacteria catalyze bio-oxidation of low-grade, hard to treat (refractory), sulfidic gold ore. This step is currently being adopted by gold producers for freeing gold …

…this novel bisulfide leaching process to perform amenability testing on bio-oxidized ore samples. We are open to negotiating an R&D evaluation license with either a single company or with a consortium of companies, allowing a credit against future royalties for any investment made in process development. We will also grant a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to practice our patents to the first company to build and successfully operate a full-scale plant based on our technology.