In the vast expanse of the Southwestern United States lies a treasure trove—the world’s second-largest gold deposits sprawled across the territories of Nevada, California, and Arizona. Back in the late 1800s, these lands witnessed an influx of dreamers and miners during the gold rush, bustling with life and industry. The legacy of this era left behind a mosaic of closed smelters and heaps of slag, remnants of a bygone era of mining and metallurgy.
Today, our mission orbits around these forgotten piles, as if holding onto secrets waiting to be unraveled. Across these landscapes, over 20 million tons of slag sit, retaining echoes of a past where Iridium, Platinum, Rhodium, Gold, and Silver lingered, elusive and untapped. The technology of yesteryears fell short in refining these precious metals due to the constraints of high smelting temperatures and the loss of atomic structure.
Our team of intrepid scientists, pioneers in the field, have devoted over two decades to unraveling this mystery. What they have uncovered is nothing short of revolutionary—an innovative technology poised to extract these valuable metals from the slag’s grasp. Conventional processes, intended for metal extraction, inadvertently left a treasure trove behind, trapped within the complex bonds of the slag. The traditional fire assay method proved futile, lacking the necessary energy to liberate these metals. Enter our breakthrough: the cold plasma process, a marvel of high electrical energy combined with precise chemistry, engineered to break these intricate bonds. Additionally, our hot plasma process line promises to further liberate these metals by ionizing them, elevating our recovery potential to unprecedented heights.
The analyses conducted on the slag in its original state divulge an astonishing revelation—a spectrum of gold inclusion ranging from a modest 59.50 grams to a staggering 1598 grams per ton, averaging at 233 grams per ton. These analyses meticulously dissect Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Silver, and Iridium, presenting a tableau of untapped wealth. Leveraging an electrostatic separator, we can amplify the concentration of precious metals by four to over tenfold, unveiling the latent richness within.
To navigate the labyrinth of business risks, our meticulous analyses have unearthed a common thread: zinc content, a consistent presence in no less than 20% of the samples. By amplifying the concentration of zinc on-site by over fourfold, considering a zinc market price of $2100 per ton (at 80% purity, yielding $1600 per ton), we unveil an additional avenue of revenue, separate from the precious and base metals.
This endeavor not only promises to reclaim valuable resources but also presents a sustainable solution to the environmental conundrum posed by abandoned slag heaps dotting the region. It stands as a testament to innovation, unveiling hidden wealth and rewriting the narrative of these forgotten remnants of history.