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Gold/Mining/Energy : Solv Ex (SOLVD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bigtoe who wrote (5626)	5/2/1998 11:06:00 AM
From: Larry Ricker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6735

>>>SOLV tried to make this work in their pilot system and failed.<<< >Please detail exactly what you know about SOLV's "pilot system" and exactly what your basis is to be able to conclude that "it failed". Please, dispense with the short/long rhetoric...be as technically and geologically detailed as your knowledge of this issue allows. < I didn't say "it failed." I said "they failed." The fact that the company is in bankruptcy is pretty clear evidence of that. But you can also read their own statements in which they admit to being unable to control fines buildup. >>>a similar ore leaching operation caused the disaster in Spain cited by TheDuke.<<< >Is this an accurate statement? Please describe the environmental similarities between the processes used by SOLV in mineral extraction through oilsands separation and Bolidens open pit, massive sulfide operation. Please explain the differences as well. < "similar" refers to the copper operation mentioned in the post to which I was responding. As to SOLV's process, what process? No one seems to know what they're really proposing. But if it's the process in the patent I cited recently, they first react the clays with concentrated sulfuric acid. This produces a solid containing water-soluble sulfates. Then they leach the solid to recover the sulfates. Pretty standard. So will they recover all of it? They imply that they will, but my OPINION is that either for technical or economic reasons the solid would still contain leachable sulfates. That's an environmental liability. How big a liability would depend on how well they do. Speculation, but history tends to repeat. As for scale, if the idea is to clean up the tailing ponds, I'd say they would be pretty massive. Anyway, when I look at this I don't see anything revolutionary. It's not a magic bullet. What do you see? Larry