Canadian firm has process for recovery of platinum

What is believed to be a significant breakthrough in the recovery of the platinum group metals appears to have been made by Platinum Lake Technology Inc., a private Canadian company with strong backing that is soon to go public.

It could prove a real boon to Canadian mining, where the search for platinum is picking up.

Working closely with the National Research Council, the company has carried out a great deal of research work that has developed a system for the recovery of these metals from catalytic scrap and other secondary sources by hydrometallurgical leaching. The plan, of course, is to broaden this to the recovery of primary platinum sources — matte, concentrates, raw ores and tailings.

With a grant of $608,000 from the National Research Council and a further $1,400,000 it expects to raise via a public offering of shares, the Platinum Lake company will now proceed with a proposal from the Ontario Research Foundation to build a pilot plant at the latter’s Sheridan Park facility at Mississauga, John Ryder, the company’s technical director tells The Northern Miner.

Current plans are to process several hundred tons of this catalytic scrap at the ORF following which the pilot plant will be dismantled and reassembled and enlarged at a new site to be chosen by the company.

The major benefits of this unique process is its rapid leach time (3 to 5 hours) and consistent high recovery rate (90%). Too, it requires only a modest capital cost ($1.2 million for a 5-ton-per-day facility). It also features a simultaneous dissolution of not only the platinum group metals themselves, but gold and silver as well. Furthermore, it is said to be technically simple and non-cyanide, posing a minimum of environmental problems.

The secondary sources of platinum initially to be tapped consist of relatively high grade material and are expected to provide a healthy cash flow even in the pilot plant stage, Ryder says. This is expected to be in production by the last quarter of this year.

The forthcoming public offering of shares, which will be made through the firm of Merit Investment Corp., will consist of 700,000 units at $2 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one half of a Series C Warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at $2.20 on or before July 31, 1989.

Immediately following the offering, the units will trade on the COATS system, likely to be followed by a full listing.