To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (5997 ) 5/23/1998 10:18:00 AM From: Zeev Hed Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Richard, no NIH syndrome here, only detection of the tell-tale signs of an over optimistic researcher. First, if the company has something to say, let it be a formal release, not an "unauthorized" private letter that contains a lot of new information, information mind you which still leaves a lot of empty holes. If indeed the "catalyst" is used, why is there a need to go the smelting route at all. How do I know they are still going the smelting route? Well the letter mentions that they dissolve the copper dore. If the gold is dissolved in the initial leaching process, why not use the resin extraction on the pregnant liquor? possibly because gold (and the other goodies)is not yet in solution in the correct ionic form, so we precipitate the whole shabang. It must be a lot since from earlier data we have a factor of about 6 in concentration in that process. The precipitate is then subjected to smelting with copper (trying to get rid of as much of the base metals as possible in the slag, I presume), and then the copper is dissolved with the goodies contained in it. Now, you go and use a resin developed for polishing plating solutions (recovering precious metals) that contain almost no copper and pass on it a solution containing 90% plus copper. Guess where will all the copper ions end up, on the resin. When you pyrolize the resin, you still end up with a copper rich dore. Richard, their are a lot of additional question marks raised by that letter, but I am not here to blast this stock, as you know, it was always my preferred DD and still is. I am simply calling it as it is, to the best of my ability.
