The refining process and plant is an updated Mark II version of an existing refinery that has been operating for close to 40 years. The original refinery was conceived, built and commissioned by the Principals behind CleanRocks, and is widely acknowledged as being one of the most efficient refineries in the world. The leaching of concentrates has also been extensively demonstrated on materials as low as 1 g/t gold.
All gold and precious metals refineries worldwide are in a chloride medium, and the CleanRocks process simply logically extends this back to the ore/concentrate. This, therefore, not only eliminates the environmentally-undesirable cyanidation process, but also permits the production of high-purity gold and silver in one single facility without needing to go through intermediates such as mine bullion. Furthermore, unlike the incumbent cyanidation process, that of CleanRocks is able to recover associated metals such as copper and zinc, high-purity silica, and any minor metals, such as tellurium or scandium, that might also be present.
The advantage of being able to carry out the whole process in one facility is that the provenance of the gold and silver can clearly be established. In today’s world, being able to be ethical in this is assuming increasing importance, and we believe that this gives CleanRocks a significant competitive advantage.
