Richard,
One more time,
typical sulfide copper recovery involves mining, crushing, milling and flotation. The concentrate is about 60% copper, the remainder being sulfur and MINOR elements including but not limited to Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Tellurium, Platinum and others. These elements are associated with the copper sulfides.
Next, the concentrate is smelted along with a fluxing material which might also contain some minor elements. The products of this are blister copper, Sulfur dioxide, which is used to produce sulfuric acid, and slag.
The blister copper is then refined. It is dissolved and the copper is electroplated out leaving a sludge behind. This sludge contains the minor elements. Some refiners process this sludge or part of it themselves and some sell it to others. It is a byproduct of the copper process.
Copper oxide ores don't lend themselves to flotation so they are usually leached and electroplated or subject to solvent extraction. Even though they contain some of the same minor elements, there is no effort to recover them.
I don't know where GPGI's Pt. has come from. I am not convinced that they are in production yet. Time will tell.
You posted a while back that you don't like to depend on management for your due dilligence. So why should I talk to Runyon, Jensen or Hewlitt. I am sure they can't tell me any more than what I am reading on the threads. However, I can check with state and federal agencies, and often times I find that what has been published on the thread or in News releases is not quite true or, if negative, not said at all.
How long have we heard this story about Oro Grande being docked for Pt. With all of my research I can't verify this story. Where does it come from. How about some facts from Mr. Currie? I have looked at GPGI's file also.
I will bet my Maxam Bulldozer job against your Naxos Cheerleader job that for some yet to be disclosed reason, GPGI will not sustain production for more than a month and if they do, there will be a problem with the refiner.
Tim Hall |
