Roughly 10 years ago I attended what was dubbed Giant Mine Day in Yellowknife. The purpose of the event was to open up the reclamation project to engineering companies so they could bid on the project.
There were 49 engineering firms in attendance……..and BacTech.
Needless to say the reps of the engineers were drooling over the prospects of a $1B clean up. They also were not very happy having me there as I was pitching a totally different approach. Using what is on the ground to pay for the project. (I should also include the fact that we were invited by the Chief of the Dene tribe).
Most people know that the ore from the Giant Mine was arsenopyrite, our bread and butter. Most people DON’T know that there are 16M tonnes of tailings that contain some 900,000 ounces of gold ($1.8B at today’s prices).
The geniuses in Ottawa have now upped the cost for reclamation to over $4B!!! They also plan on capping the tailings and burying the almost $2B worth of gold that if reprocessed would help offset a portion of the cost while adding employment opportunities to the locals.
Bioleaching is made for arsenopyrite but do you think anyone listens?
There is a hidden agenda at work here. But the fact that the cost has gone up over 400% is really odorous. If anyone reading this article has access to the decision making process I would love to talk to you.
In the interim, prepare yourself for a real “pigs at the trough” article.
How does remediating Giant Mine cost $4.38 billion?
Until next week.
Ross OrrPresident & CEO, BacTech Environmental Corporation
Email: [email protected]Website: https://bactechgreen.
