BacTech Environmental Corporation has signed a Technical Consulting and Testing Agreement with Di-As Company Ltd. to evaluate the application of its proprietary BACOX bioleaching technology to historic sulphide tailings in East Kazakhstan.

The agreement will become effective 30 days following formal commissioning of the new carbon-in-leach processing plant in Altay City, subject to an 18-month longstop date. The evaluation program will be funded by Di-As at an estimated value of US$350,000 to US$425,000 and is expected to take approximately 26 to 34 weeks to complete.

The program will be carried out in three distinct stages, allowing the parties to review technical results before committing to each successive phase. BacTech will first review available technical information and undertake a site assessment and diagnostic testing program. Following this initial assessment, the company will conduct bench-scale biological oxidation testing at ALS Laboratories in Perth, Western Australia, to examine gold and silver recovery, sulphide oxidation performance, and arsenic stabilization behaviour.

Subject to positive results from the earlier stages, BacTech will develop preliminary engineering and costing for a nominal 50-tonne-per-day BACOX circuit, together with a possible modular pathway to approximately 100 tonnes per day.

“This is exactly the type of technical challenge we believe BACOX® is well suited to investigate — historic sulphide material containing precious metals that may be difficult to recover through conventional processing alone. It is also the first transaction structured to begin with BACOX®, with Zero Tailings™ potentially to be added once that technology is commercialized,” — Ross Orr, President and CEO

“What I particularly like about this program is the staged approach. Di-As is funding the technical work needed to understand both recovery and environmental performance before anyone makes a larger development decision. If the results are positive, we then have a clear technical pathway to the next stage. It is a disciplined way to develop a project and a model we believe could have application to other historic tailings opportunities internationally.” — Ross Orr, President and CEO

In addition to its activities in Kazakhstan, BacTech is advancing a bioleach facility in Tenguel–Ponce Enríquez, Ecuador, and developing its proprietary Zero-Tailings technology in Sudbury, Canada.

Read the full announcement: BacTech Signs Agreement with Di-As to Evaluate BACOX® Bioleaching of Historic Tailings in Kazakhstan