St. Genevieve targets metals in mine tailings

Confident that it is on the heels of an environmental breakthrough, St. Genevieve Resources (TSE) has cast its first ingot containing gold and silver ore at its Norebec-Manitou pilot recycling plant.

The company plans to process 700 tons of the sandy residues daily during the next few months. The production goal is 5,000 tons a day at a site which contains 2.5 million square feet of residues. Some $2 million has been invested in the pilot project so far.

The multi-step process begins with removal of sulphates from the residue; it ends with the valuable metals having been extracted and the neutralized residues returned underground or into artificial or natural lakes. At an on-site reception, St. Genevieve President Pierre Gauthier told two provincial cabinet ministers, The Northern Miner and other visitors, that producing minerals from residues has, in the past, been prohibitively expensive but that the process is fast becoming viable.

St. Genevieve also announced it has reached agreements with several companies to recycle more than 30 million tons of mine tailings. Included are: six million tons containing tin and gold from the Potosi mine in Potosi, Bolivia; more than 20 million tons containing gold from the old Kerr Addison mine in Virginiatown, Ont.; 5.9 million tons containing zinc from the Normetal mine in northwestern Quebec; and two million tons containing zinc and copper from the old Alderman mine near Rouyn-Noranda, Que., owned by Deak Resources (TSE). The Bolivian tailings have been optioned from the Bolivian state corporation Comibol, in a joint venture completed in March. The Virginiatown tailings stem from an agreement with Deak subsidiary GSA Mining.

If proven viable, the recycling process could be a boon for former East Bloc countries, such as Poland, which experience significant mining pollution, Gauthier said. Extraction techniques in many developing countries have left large quantities of metal in mine residues.

As well, Western European nations are bound to provide financing for the cleanups once their own waters become polluted by environmental fallout from the east, he said.

There are about 10,000 residue dumps worldwide that present environmental risks. About 500 million tons of mining residues are produced annually in Canada alone.

An official of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, which is participating in the pilot project, said the project has not been without its hurdles, including inter-ministerial conflicts in Quebec regarding its effectiveness.

(The Institute national de la recherche scientifique, based in St. Foy, is Quebec’s version of the National Research Council of Canada. A series of government-funded research centres, it specializes in research into water, health, telecommunications, urbanization, energy, geo-resources and oceanography.)

A bullish Gauthier said that, although the process has had its “naysayers,” it is becoming a reality and he joked that a golf course will soon replace the residues at the site.