Welcome to this year’s look back on the year that was.

Last year I described the year 2023 with one word: tough. That pretty well summed up the challenges of raising capital for a project in Ecuador while trying to keep the BacTech balance sheet in one piece. This year, the word that comes to mind is encouraging—and for a few good reasons.

First and foremost, of course, was the move in gold and silver prices—the very stuff we’re planning to process. Gold finished 2024 north of $2,400 an ounce and has almost doubled in a year. Silver closed just under $29 and, not long ago, even poked its head above $30. Higher metal prices translate directly into better project economics. At $4,000 gold, for example, projected earnings climb to more than US$30 million before we make the customary contribution to the employee bonus pool.

Second, we managed to clean up almost $2 million of debt by converting it to equity, leaving us in pretty good shape on the debt front. The holder of that debt, Brett Whalen, is now our largest shareholder at roughly 11% and has joined the board. We’re hopeful he brings some of his deep connections along with him. That said, the reality remains that we still need to secure roughly US$22 million to finance the Ecuador project. As a result, we’re looking closely at structures where capital is invested directly at the project level rather than through BacTech itself.

Third—and I’ll get into this in more detail below—we filed the patent for our Zero-Tailings process, which we believe could be a real game-changer.

On a more somber note, we were saddened this year by the passing of long-time director Don Whalen, Brett’s father. Don and I go way back—I first met him in the 1990s when he was Chairman of High River Gold. He stood by us through thick and thin (mostly thin, if I’m being honest) and remained a supporter right to the end. He will be missed, both personally and professionally.

Looking ahead, early in 2026 I’ll be heading to Peru to begin laying the groundwork for a potential plant near Trujillo. I can already hear some readers wondering why we’d even consider Peru when Ecuador isn’t fully financed yet. Fair question—so let me explain.

Given the lack of hard assets on our balance sheet, we’re focusing on arsenic-bearing tailings deposits that can be acquired outright to underpin a project. The nice thing about arsenic-laden tailings is that owners are often quite open-minded about handing over the liability. Add to that the fact that there are more than 25 ore processors in and around Trujillo—a major port city in northern Peru—and suddenly the model changes. Instead of chasing miners, we’d have 25 potential customers producing concentrates that currently head to Asia at steep discounts. Most of the arsenic ores in northern Peru are enargite, which means we’d also recover copper along with the gold and silver. Finally, any new project takes 12 to 18 months to advance—test work, feasibility studies, permits, the whole bit. Call it another iron in the fire.

Zero-Tailings Process

In April of last year, we filed a global patent titled “The economic recovery of metal values from flotation tailings through magnetite and ammonium sulphate co-production in a zero-waste framework.” It’s also the title of Paul Miller’s upcoming talk at the Mineral Processing Circuits conference in Cape Town.

In plain English, the patent covers bioleaching pyrrhotite to produce magnetite (for green steel or pigments), ammonium sulphate (an organic fertilizer), and critical metals like nickel, copper, and cobalt. What’s left behind is essentially silica—sand—that can be used as paste backfill in underground mines or as feedstock for geopolymers in construction. In other words: zero tailings.

The broader implications are pretty compelling. This technology is a poster child for the circular economy—turning waste into revenue. Canada imports organic fertilizer and produces steel in several regions, including Algoma, just west of Sudbury. With the rise of green steel, could this be a better fit? The process takes two long-term liabilities and turns them into revenue-generating assets. It doesn’t get much more circular than that.

What really surprised us was the breakdown of value. In the Sudbury material we studied, roughly 75% of the recoverable value came from what were previously considered liabilities. The nickel, copper, and cobalt—the original focus of the work—only accounted for about 25%.

In June, we sharpened our pencils and expanded the original patent filing. This provisional work broadens the application well beyond bioleaching alone. The process can be applied to a wide range of waste streams to recover iron and acid—everything from copper and nickel sulphide operations to laterites, heap leach pads, and even runoff from historic mines.

Looking Ahead to 2026 – The Shopping List

• Finance Ecuador at the project level
• Begin groundwork for Phase 2, increasing throughput from 50 tpd to 250 tpd
• Scope out Peru as a potential expansion around Trujillo
• Identify an arsenic-bearing silver tailings project for acquisition
• Complete the Zero-Tailings pilot plant study in Sudbury with MIRARCO
• Receive the final Zero-Tailings patent
• Sign at least one license agreement for a country or region
• Expand our outreach to the investment community
  (because, frankly, we’re still not getting much love for all this potential)

In closing, I hope this year-end note has given you a bit of the optimism I’m feeling. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and for the first time in years, I’m able to step back and see the forest instead of getting lost in the trees.

Sincerely,
Ross Orr
President & CEO