Envirogold plans to recover gold and silver from the Las Lagunas tailings of the Pueblo Viejo mine. However, I wonder if there's copper and zinc there as well, given that current operators of the Pueblo Viejo mine are targeting those metals too? That's assuming that the past and present ore mineralogies at Pueblo Viejo mine are similar, and that any copper and zinc in the Las Lagunas ore hasn't already been recovered.
Who knows, maybe any copper present in Las Lagunas tailings could be recovered by toll-treating at Outotec/Barrick's new Copper Sulfide Precipitation milling facility...or is there some good reason why that idea's half-baked?
BTW, Barrick et al's willingness to spend $2.7B has to be some kind of vote of confidence in the Dominican Republic.
"In addition to an estimated 22 million ounces of gold, Pueblo Viejo has significant amounts of zinc (2.6 billion pounds), copper (358 million pounds) and silver (88 million ounces) contained within the gold reserves. The mine life is currently estimated to be at least 20 years..."
"The ore treated in the gold leaching process contains copper, which is removed as copper sulfide. Outotec has developed the Copper Sulfide Precipitation Process, which in collaboration with Barrick, will be applied in the Pueblo Viejo project."
EVG Price at posting:
8.5¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
