Laurentian researcher named strategic advisor for ‘green’ miner’s South American endeavors – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 16, 2021)

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Nadia Mykytczuk named to BacTech Environmental’s strategic advisory board

Laurentian University microbiologist Nadia Mykytczuk has been named to the strategic advisory board of BacTech Environmental, a Toronto ‘green’ mining technology company with ambitious plans to recover precious metals in South America.

For the past 15 years, Mykytczuk has worked in the field of mine waste microbiology and is considered an expert in biomining and bioremediation.

Her research at Laurentian, primarily focuses on cultivating microbes to break down toxic material at mine waste sites and harness them to extract precious metals.

Mykytczuk has worked with BacTech for a decade to further develop its proprietary process that uses harmless and naturally occurring bacteria, inside fermentation tanks, to recover gold from ore and stabilize harmful materials like arsenic. The remaining material is left benign and is (U.S.) EPA approved for use as fill material.

BacTech is out to raise money to build a commercial-scale bioleaching plant in Ecuador, in a mining region where arsenic is known to exist in gold ore. In Ponce Enriquez, the company wants to build a 50-tonne-per-day plant capable of treating gold concentrates containing arsenic. The proposed plant would produce 26,000 ounces of gold a year.

For the rest of this article: https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/industry-news/green/laurentian-researcher-named-strategic-advisor-for-green-miners-south-american-endeavors-4226046